Real Dark Adventure
by Purple-Rose-Ninja
Summary: When playing Neopets:The Darkest Faerie, two girls are pulled into the game and forced to complete it to get out! Please review, no flames please, and constructive criticisms welcome. Anonymous reviews are very welcome as well.
1. Behold!

Okay, peoples. Here it is. Da most awesomest story eva! Or…maybe not…..

"Yes! YES! I have defeated you fiendish one! Never again shall I bother with your darkness!!!...Until I start a new game. Then you can go on and try to kill me again, and I will defeat you again." Was the way it all began.

Two girls, both eleven years old, sat in a white walled room on the second story of a house. The one who had been talking was a sheer blonde named Saura. Her friend, Amy, a brunette, sat in the bean bag opposite her friend and looked at her with a smile that said 'Omg, I actually know this girl.'

Saura held a PS2 controller in her hands and watched her TV in satisfaction. Once again, for like the millionth time, she had beaten the Darkest Faerie and watched as the cinematics played, even though she knew how they went. Fyora had just congratulated Tor and Roberta and the two now struck (what Saura called ridiculous) proud poses. "You see how they're in the wrong clothes?" she asked Amy, "I mean, they're supposed to be in Altadorian clothes, but they are in the **wrong ones**!"

Amy looked at her friend hopelessly. Always criticizing the smallest error or bug in ANY game. But heck, who cared? It was fun to watch the blonde get herself riled up over it.

Amy and Saura had both played said Darkest Faerie game. When they visited the other's house, the guest would watch as their friend played it. It never seemed to bother them, as it may some different people. You would think that they would ask to have a turn, but no. They were just as contented with watching if it wasn't their own house.

And that day, they were at Saura's house. Saura giggled as the cinematic went by that showed where the Darkest Faerie was being kept on the fountain as Luke, Peter, and Claire ran around it. "It makes you wonder how they got there." Said Saura suddenly, "I mean, they don't have carriages or portals, which really makes you wonder…" Amy laughed and replied, "Saura, it doesn't matter. They're there to see Tor and Bob be made Defenders or whatever Fyora said they were. Don't get so miffed about it." "But it's so weird!" Saura cried, "Tor and Bob go by portal, while their friends get there by who knows what! So unexplainitory!"

Suddenly, the TV made a strange noise. Static noise. ODD noise. The girls looked at the TV for a few moments. All was quiet. It was one of those moments when you could sneak up behind someone and scare them and watch them go sky high, screaming. And as they watched the TV, it started to…swirl. The swirls began to slowly turn darker shades of purple with each swirl.

Saura stared at it with wide eyes. "Dude," she said, "Dat is totally awesome. A BONUS FEATURE!!!!" Amy shook her head, staring at the screen as well, saying, "Uh, Saura…this cannot be a bonus feature." Right when Saura was about to give a sharp retort, a voice that was familiar to the girls echoed out, "You have defied me more than once! You have humiliated me and made fun of the misfortunate happenings I endure. Now, I will provide a challenge that neither of you will be able to escape! Feel my WRATH!!!!" (I'm so sorry that sounded cheesy. I'm not good at important wording like it's supposed to be.) And all of a sudden, purple beams of energy shot out from the TV screen and wrapped around Saura and Amy. "Saura!" called Amy, extending her arm to her friend. Saura looked at her and frantically tried to grab her hand, but missed. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway as the two were pulled into the television.

Saura's POV

I opened my eyes slightly, scared of what I might see. But what I saw was worse (to me at least). Nothing. Everything was black. I seemed to be in a black void. I opened my eyes all the way and groaned. I was floating in an endless black space, and of course being me, began to freak out. Mixed up, disconnected thoughts ran through my mind as I tried to stay calm, but miserably failed. 'Happy fun time rabbits of Terabithia come to take me to my vegetable garden to say hi to potatoes. Heehee! No, no! Focused! Have to stay focused! Ahem. Wait, what does "focused" mean? Ack, I can't remember!'

Then, my endless tirade upon my own mind stopped as I heard a familiar noise. Music. VERY familiar music. Music I'd heard millions of times before. I knew what to expect as soon as it appeared. A small square of color erupted in front of me, quite welcome since the only other color here was…black.

The beats of the music went like this: Dun dun dun duuuuuuuunn! Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun! Dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!! Dun dun dun dun dun dun duuuuuuuuuunn! (I'll explain later.) And the color square in front of me contorted to make significant shapes. Words and silhouettes and things. As soon as it completed, I recognized it instantly. The colors had come together like a painting of a landscape, and I saw the images of trees, rocks, and branches while white words formed at the top of the square. They read:

ACT ONE

Tor's Story

But it changed, and the words no longer were the same. Instead, they now read:

ACT ONE

Sar's Story

I had a hunch of what it meant, and I REALLY hoped I was wrong for once. Sadly, as I would figure out, I was right.

Normal POV

Saura sat up quickly, drenched in sweat. Sighing, she had her head bowed against her chest and her eyes closed. 'It was a dream. Had to be. See, I'm still in bed. Today we are going to pick up Amy so she can stay over tonight. Yes, it was all…a dream.' And she came to a sad conclusion, 'I play Neopets: The Darkest Faerie too much.'

Then she lifted her head up…and was in the biggest shock of her life. This…was not…her room. It looked like a barn in fact, hay and straw sticking out from the cracks in the walls here and there, and the bed was just a plain wooden frame with a straw filled mattress, plus a soft white blanket over her. To her right, a bedside table stood with a candle that was lit sitting on it. To the right of IT was another bed, with another sleeping form bundled up in the blanket. Saura leapt out of the bed, to find that, horrifyingly, she was in a nightgown. Then…she noticed her feet. Or were they paws? Well, they certainly weren't human, but looked oddly like a…..and her hands, or what should have been her hands, were also paws. And when she looked at them, staring at them down her nose, she found that she had a lot more to stare down. She seemed to have a…muzzle. Knowing what was behind her but checking anyway…she saw a tail. A big, furry, bushy, yellow tail with a cream tinted tip.

Saura could only say that the hunch she had was right. Tor was no longer here, but her as the yellow lupe replacement, and to top that, she was being called Sar. And where was Amy? Saura blinked. Her friend must have taken Roberta's place, since Saura had seen her forcibly pulled into the TV just like she was. 'But,' she realized, 'We are not in the TV. We are not even in the game. We are in the game's **universe**.'

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Hi! Um, these Saura and Amy are owned by me and no one else, mmkay? Plus, that music stuff earlier was from the game, you know, in the beginning where that screen comes up and says Act One Tor's Story? Yeah, the music that's playing then. Read and review please!


	2. Da beginning of it all!

**Cat(Me):Yay, more of the story! WEEWOO!!!**

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Saura froze for a second, realization sinking in. 'In the game…the game's universe…' It took all of her self control to not yell out, "OMG!!!" She glanced at the bed across from the one she had slept in to see the figure in it move around. She stayed where she was, not moving, not making a sound. Finally, the figure sat up and stretched, and Saura realized that if she just stood staring, whoever this was would think that she was acting weird. So, the girl forced a casual look onto her face and did a fake stretch. "Good morning, Sar." Said a voice from the direction of the someone who had just woken up. It was a voice that Saura recognized from the several hundreds of times she had played Neopets: The Darkest Faerie. Lucy. Tor's little sister, or, in her case, Saura's little sister.

Saura smiled and nodded at the smaller yellow lupe. Lucy also was in a nightgown, and the bow that was normally in her hair was missing. A glance at the bedside table, and Saura saw the frilly violet thing. "Yep, it's morning all right. Good sunny morning!" said the older girl nervously. Lucy cocked her head and gave Saura an 'Okay, whatever?' look.

"Well, let's go get breakfast!" said Lucy excitedly. She bounded over to the bedside table and pulled open the drawer on it. **(Okay, I don't know if there seriously is a drawer on the thing in the game, but just go along with it…)** "Is…breakfast in there?" Saura asked. Lucy giggled and said, "Pff! No, silly! We've gotta get dressed before breakfast like we do EVERY DAY. Remember?" Saura nervously laughed and replied, "Yeah, I was only joking! Heh, yeah, breakfast not here! Yep!" At this, Lucy gave her a 'Yeah, sure…you are crazy.' look and took out the clothes, her own pink and violet dress while she laid a brown sleeveless shirt, green pants and a rope on Saura's bed.

The girls got dressed and then Saura followed Lucy downstairs for breakfast. The shirt was longer than Tor's normally was, being at knee's length. Saura guessed it was because she was a girl that it should be more like a skirt. She had tied the rope around her waist like Tor and hoped that it was 'normal' looking. As for her hair, she brushed it with a brush she found on the bedside table and did nothing else with it. The main room was just like it was in the game. High roof, support beams, fireplace, and table. Saura cautiously sat down with Lucy at the table and waited. Tor's mother, Patricia, or in this case temporarily, Saura's mother placed plates in front of the two, saying, "Your father already ate and is working so he wont be joining us for breakfast. In fact, neither will I. I have to take care of the juppie garden." She walked towards the door, and halfway there, turned and said, "Saura?" Saura looked up, her cheeks full and round with juppie, looking like a chipmunk. "Remember, Peter, Luke, and Claire will be coming over today to play with Lucy, and you will need to help keep them entertained so that they don't get into trouble." Patricia said. Saura glanced at Lucy, but the small lupe didn't notice as she wolfed down the contents on her plate. 'Geez,' thought Saura, 'The girl's younger than me but eats as if she hasn't in forever!' "So," continued Patricia, "You wont have to do any of your chores today." And with that she walked outside.

Saura shrugged and ate the rest of her juppie breakfast. The two cleaned their plates, and then went outside as well and for the rest of the morning, Saura and Lucy played until the three others arrived. The lupes greeted Peter, Luke, and Claire at the gate and walked them in. Peter held up a Darigan mask and said, "Come on, Sar! You promised you would play Darigan and Defenders of Meridell!" Saura stared at the mask and smiled. "So, who's Darigan?" she asked. "It's Lucy's turn." Luke informed. Lucy didn't seem too happy with the idea, but accepted the mask nonetheless when it was handed to her and put it on.

"Okay," said Claire, "Me, Luke, and Peter are just regular pets. Saura, you have to be the knight that saves us since it's your dream to be the first girl knight." Saura nodded slowly, thinking about it. 'So that's what it is for me! Like it was Tor's dream to be a knight, I dream about being the first female knight ever! Makes sense.' She thought. Looking around, she saw an average sized stick and picked it up. Lucy found another one and the game began. Claire, Luke, and Peter ran off towards the cabin. Lucy ran after them, and Saura followed. Right when the aisha, gelert, and scorchio had rounded the side of the cabin, Lucy turned and brandished the stick at Saura, who swatted gently at it. "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! I'll tear yer gizzard out like a crokabek! Meridell will be mine! Bwuahahahaha!" Howled the younger lupe. "Noo!" cried out the trio behind her. Saura once again hit Lucy's stick and replied while forcing her back, "No, Lord Darigan! You will fall to the might of the Defenders of Meridell!", hoping like heck that she'd said it right. "Yay!" the group behind Lucy yelled out again, and they ran over to the pen that held the winnies, climbed onto it, and sat watching as the lupes pretend-fought.

Then, Saura swung her own stick at a different angle and disarmed Lucy, who, in drama act, pretended to faint and die. Trying to remember how it went in the game, Saura put a paw on her hip and the other in the air, reminding her of 'The Little Teapot' song motions. 'I'm a little teapot.' She thought and helped Lucy up off the ground. "Hmph!" the younger girl grunted, "Next time, YOU'RE Darigan."

Luke, Peter, and Claire clambered down from their perches and joined them. "Is it true?" said Peter. "Yeah, is it?" said Luke. "Are you gonna be the first girl knight?" finished Peter. Saura swallowed and hoped she was getting it right again as she leaned on the gate of the Winnie pen and said, "I don't wanna brag, but…" she waited. 'Um…isn't the gate supposed to, like, give out under my weight?' she thought. Pausing for a second, she pushed on the gate and it swung open. She fell to the ground and the winnies bounded over her and out of the pen.

"My winnies!", cried Lucy, "Sar! Mum is gonna kill you!" Saura looked back at the pen, then back at the four younger pets in front of her. They looked around and ran off yelling back excuses.

"Gotta go!"

"Yup, see ya!"

"Homework to do!"

Saura sighed. Well, now to do what she absolutely hated. Getting the winnies back in the pen. It was always hard in the game, and it seemed worse in the game universe! After Lucy said some things, Saura ran around, struggling to herd the winnies back where they belonged. Finally, after the three were in the pen, Saura sighed again. '3…2…1.' She thought when suddenly, "Sa-a-a-a-a-a-aura!" shouted Patricia from the juppie garden. "Oooh! Busted!" Better go see what mum wants!" said Lucy sinisterly with a smirk. Saura coolly walked over to Patricia, who said, "Sar, my juppies need watering. Could you get me a pail of water, please?" As Saura went to do her bidding, she was reminded of the 'Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water' thing. 'Dang,' she thought, 'Today is full of unnecessary nursery rhymes!'

She grabbed the pail, then walked over to the retaining wall a few yards to her right and climbed up over it, and began to fill the pail. Soon, the pump started to groan, and in a few seconds, blew with a gentle explosion. 'Oh, the pump exploded again. Omg…' Saura thought calmly before taking the pail and giving it to Patricia. "Thank you, Sar," she said, "I heard the explosion. It was the pump again, wasn't it? Get your father to fix that thing once and for all or he's sleeping in the barn again!" she growled, shaking a fist. Saura nodded slightly then ran to the retaining wall again and climbed over it, then walked into the barn. She found Tor's father, Hubert, standing around. "Um…dude, er, I mean, dad?" she called. He turned and faced her, replying, "Yes, Sar?" "Uh, the pump, it got broken. Again." Hubert sighed and started to walk out towards the pump. "Oh, Saura," he said, facing her, "I left my pliers on the barn roof, could you get them for me?" And he walked out.

Saura smirked, thinking, 'And why are the gosh-be-darned things on the roof?' But she grabbed the big box to her right and dragged it under the ladder that led up to the loft. She shimmied up, and walked to her right through the opening in the wall. To her right **(Why is everything to the right?...)** was a gap. She leaped across it with ease, and then went up the ladder that was **(omg, another thing to the right! When will it end?!)** to her right. At the other corner of the roof were the pliers and she grabbed them before jumping off the thing completely, like she did as Tor in the actual game. Right as she hit the ground, she instinctively did a small somersault, like Tor always did. **(And now that I** **think about it, so does Roberta…)** Well, that was fun. So she ran back over to the pump and handed over the pliers before staring off into space in a bored daze as Hubert fixed the thing.

Finally, he finished and said, "Sar, once you are done with your chores, meet me in the house." And with that, he walked off to the cabin. Saura shrugged, not knowing why he said that, because the people who made this game obviously knew that she was done with the chores. **(Darn you, TNT!!!) **So she casually followed him. Inside, he announced, "Sar, I have something important to do. I want you to deliver a package." Saura nodded, before remembering to say, "Over to Farmer Addison's again?" without much emotion. Then she mentally slapped herself in the face. 'Darnit! That wasn't at all convincing! Darn me to heck!' "No," continued Hubert nonetheless, "This one goes…to Meridell." Determined to show that she was at least a little interested, Saura said, "To Meridell?! To the castle!!!??!" then she thought she'd said it a little too enthusiastically. But Hubert STILL didn't seem to notice. 'Maybe I should wave my hand, er, paw in front of his face and he will just continue saying things.' She thought, but decided not to risk it as he said, **(Okay, peoples, I can't remember every detail of what he said, so just bear** **with me…)** "Yes, Sar. And you'll need something to protect that package with.", he took out a key, "This is the key that goes to the chest upstairs. In it, you'll find the sword I used when I was young. But with this sword comes great responsibility. Do you know what that means?" **(Saura glares up at authoress and says, "He says more than that, **you **know!" Authoress glares back and says, "Stuff it.")** "It's like being a knight!" said Saura, "Defend the weak and help the poor!" **(I seriously know that Tor doesn't say that**, **but like I said, bear with me, people.)** "Good, now go Sar! This package won't deliver itself!"

Saura took the key when it was handed to her and dashed up the stairs, rounded a corner and came into the room with the chest. She stuffed the key into the keyhole and opened it up, then reached inside and pulled out the wooden sword from inside it. It was pretty rough on her paws. 'It feels like toast. Hmm…toast' she then held up the sword in the air and said aloud, "I do dub thee, Toast!" "What was that?" called Hubert from the main room. "ER…nothing, dad!" Saura yelled back.

Soon, she was outside, being said 'goodbye' to on the porch. Patricia had just finished saying, "And watch out for bandits as Saura began to walk away. **(Saura looks** **up at authoress again and says, "Pitiful excuse for not having to remember what they said…" Authoress replies, "I said STUFF IT!!!") **As soon as Saura stepped outside the gate, she breathed in deeply, thinking, 'Now to start the journey. Ahh, journey air!'

Of course, she remembered the bandits that would appear that she would have to beat off, and kept Toast **(the sword, remember. I'll be using that name a lot.) **ready. And sure enough, just as she rounded the path's curve, she came upon the three bandits as they cornered a blue techo. Saura remembered the blue techo and it took most of her self restraint not to go flying at the bandits, yelling, "I'll save you, Kelland!" Kelland was her favorite of the twelve heroes of Altador, so she was pretty obsessed with him. Not exactly a fan girl, but anyways…

And before the bandits could say anything, she ran at the leader, Darrik the Blade and swung Toast in a 3-point strike, timing the hits perfectly, and before she could defeat him, he waddled off, saying, "You think this is over? Not by a long shot, not by a long shot…" and all three of them ran away. Saura once again mentally slapped herself. She should have let the bandits say what they normally did in the game! But she put on a straight face and turned to Kelland, who was dressed as a beggar, going by Kell.

"Are you alright?" Saura asked, and suddenly, Kelland put his hands on his shoulders and she remembered what was supposed to happen. "Thank you, I really mean it, thank you! It's about time someone showed those bandits a thing or two." Then he released her and put up two fingers for emphasis. He began to pat his clothing, saying, "You deserve a little something for your troubles." Saura searched her mind for what Tor had said. She got it, and copied Tor. "No need, my good sir. A true knight –" "Always knows when to accept and honest gift." Kelland finished, and he pulled out the trademark amulet. "I may not look like much, but there's more to it than meets the eye. Remember never to take it off, it's a very special piece." Saura took the amulet and hung it around her neck, smiling. "Thank you, sir." She said with a small curtsy. After Kelland had given her a word of advice on motes, she said goodbye and turned. When she looked back, he was gone. 'Well,' she thought, 'Let's continue with the adventure.'

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**Cat: Yay, another chappie! R&R people! **

**Saura: Play the game, Cat and find out what everyone actually says for once!**

**Cat: Just…be…quiet….**


	3. A Squire Beginning

**Chapter three! Go me! Ooh, that rhymed:3**

So Saura walked on through the Meri Acres Farms. She stopped for a second, wondering if she should help the residents with the quests they had. Of course, always being a goody goody, she went and completed the quests for Farmer Tessa, Farmer Addison, and Farmer Boggs, receiving a four leaf clover, **(Saura: "Shiny!")** a chokato, and **(I can't remember what Farmer Addison gives).** So having done the three, she once again set off.

'Man, this road curves too much!' the girl thought as she trudged on. She then remembered the prince up ahead. Prince Tourin. 'Yes, I must get the rose for him so I can see him and Princess Dona in Faerieland!' And happily, she dashed up the path. Finally, she came up to the green gelert to see two crokabeks flying around. "Feel the wrath of Toast!" she shrieked as she leaped into the air and swatted at one crokabeks. She nailed him, and he burst into feathers, a few coins falling to the ground. She did the same with the other crokabeks and more neopoints fell. She held one in her paw, and looked up to see Prince Tourin staring at her expectantly. She glared at him and growled. "Mine!" she snapped, holding the neopoint tightly.

Seeing him flinch, Saura laughed and pocketed the coin. "Er…sorry," she apologized, "I'm obsessed with money as much as you." Prince Tourin frowned. "I'm not obsessed with money." "Oh, that's right!" Saura said nervously, "I just like shiny coins!"

"But I don't like shiny coins…"

"I never said that you did."

"Are you sure?"

"…"

Saura leered at him, annoyed, and he visibly blanched. "Um, anyways," said the prince, but before he could finish, the yellow lupe said, "You need me to go get a shiny plant from some rag-tag bandits for your precious princess." She said it all in a way she knew would convince him that she was pretty annoyed at him. "Oh, you know! Oh, please, could you-" once again, Saura interrupted, "Yeah, I could. Just don't wet your pants with excitement." And she turned towards the river.

Right at the edge of the ground, she jumped down onto more solid land. Something she had never noticed until her 492nd game. And she'd played approximately 268,091,432,729,340 games. So Saura continued to the right **(oh no! Everything IS** **always to the right!)** and came up to a cave, and ventured in. Once she had gone in far enough, she began to run. She really did not want to fight bandits right now. Suddenly, she felt a line of pain along her back and her body flashed red, like in the game, and she knew that a bandit had just thrown a dagger at her. **(You know, the little annoying green** **ones that jump around a lot.)** And she ran faster, occasionally zigzagging to avoid the blades being chucked at her. She ran into a large room and turned to the left. **(OMG!!! Something is to the left this time!)** She had gone into another room and found a chest in it. Not to mention the two bandits also. The girl quickly opened the chest and found the golden rose inside. Grabbing it, she pulled out Toast and held it forward as she yelled, "Chaaaaaaaaaaarrrggeee!!!!" and bolted out. She missed bandits by inches as she made a mad dash for the cave entrance. Once she was out, she kept running, even though she knew that the bandits wouldn't be chasing her. Up some ledges, to the left, and she was back with Prince Tourin. "You…owe…me…big." She panted, handing him the rose.

"Oh thank you my friend-" he started to say, but again was cut off by Saura, "Leave out all the 'thank you, woe is me' stuff and just give me the money as reward." He gave her the money and she put Toast away. As she walked away, she growled to herself. 'That was a waste of time for some sob-of-a-prince!' Then she wondered why the heck she was mad at him. All he had done was been stupid, and she laughed at stupidity! 'I am being very stupid today. Oh, ha ha. I laugh.' She thought with self-annoyance.

As most of you know, the bridge was out. So, Saura had to do some complicated tricks to get to the other side. Or just slide down a rope and climb up a ladder. 'I wonder if a goblin is going to come get me thinking that I am a goat…' She shook her head. No! No more darned nursery rhymes! At the beginning of the path, she spotted the red skeith, Brendel from Brendel and Sons Bridge Repair from Bogshot. But she decided not to talk to him, knowing what he'd say. Ho hum boring stuff she was totally not interested in. So she just kept going down the path.

Saura's POV

Finally, I made it to the fork in the road that led to Meridell and Drakon Ridge. I took the one to Meridell and once I made it past the gates, I jumped into the air and yelled, "GO ME!!!" causing some pets to stare. "Ahem." I said nervously and skittered away. Walking into the town square that was right before the castle, I had an idea. I knew that the meerca thieves were going to try and take the package. Heheh! Not this time! Slowly, I pulled Toast out of its sheath and waited. All of a sudden, a brown blur came towards me. I swung Toast out as hard and fast as I could and felt it connect with meerca jaw. Then, I keeled over. I had never done anything like that to someone before, and hearing the dull, sickening thud of Toast smacking someone made me super sick. Yes, I was very squeamish, a big sissy when it came to that type of thing.

While I was figuring out if I was going to throw up or not, I felt something mess with the package, and suddenly, no more package! I looked up to see the other meerca laughing at me with the package under his arm. I mentally slapped myself. While I had been doubled over and distracted, he had grabbed my package! My idea had failed, and they got the package anyway! 'Gosh-be-darnit, omg, holy omg shmoly, big darned kibbles and bits darnit, darnit, DARNIT!!!!' I screamed in my head in frustration, and started to run after them. Then, I got another idea. I ran the other way around Meridell, and instead of running towards the meerca thieves, I was running towards them from behind. Oh, I was so going to trick them! Booyah! "Be ready, Toast." I told my sword as I ran.

When I came to the spot the two thieves were standing, they seemed to be very confused as to where the heck I had gone. Grinning, I crept up behind them. But, as I got to about ten feet from them, I didn't lift one of my feet high enough and scraped the ground with it. The meerca thieves turned and saw me, and I ran at them as fast as I could. But of course, if you are familiar with Meerca Speed Potions, you can guess that I didn't exactly get to them before they quickly entertwined their tails and ran on either side of me, tripping me. My chin hit the ground, and I literally bit dust. Ew…gritty. I faced them to see that they were the ones who were grinning now. I put on a war face, **(which looked absolutely ridiculous)** and charged at them. But, like I said earlier, they were meercas, and they were FAST. So the chase was on.

When we came to that familiar alleyway, I looked around. Where was King Altador? I shrugged it off, and ran to meet the meerca thieves. But as I got near to the wall, I was too close to it, and my shoulder rammed into it, jostling me and making me fall over. 'When am I going to stop making STUPID and clumsy mistakes?' I mentally asked myself. I was on my back…and I saw them. The bandits on the roofs. I gasped and rolled onto my side in time to dodge a dagger. I staggered to my feet to already see the little green dudes jump to the ground, advancing on me. I swallowed and took one step back. Then, my ultimately unlearning-from-mistakes brain got and idea. It was stupid, but whatever might work, as long as I didn't sacrifice my dignity.

I tried to boldly straighten my back as I demanded, "Give me back the package. I have a sword!" I held up Toast as emphasis. "Hehehe! I don't think so!" cackled one of the meerca thieves and the bandits in front of me held up their daggers. 'Hm…around ten metal daggers to one wooden sword. Well, I'm basically dead.' I held Toast ready and braced myself for the battle. But suddenly, a paw was on my shoulder and a voice rang out, "Those who do not wish to die should leave now." The bandits stopped their advance and fled, jumping back onto the rooftops. As I saw one leap that great height, I cocked my head and wondered, 'Maybe I could learn to jump that high' then I shook my head, 'No, stay focused. Focused!' and I stared at the meerca thieves. I knew that I had to throw the sword and hit the one's paw who was holding my package, but I seriously did NOT have good aiming skill. But a lupe's gotta do what a lupe's gotta do. I flung Toast as hard as I could……………..but I nailed him…..well, uh, have you ever heard the saying 'Don't let anything hit ya where the good Lord split ya.'? Do you get it? Well, if you don't, maybe it's for the best…The meerca let out a grunt and let go of the package. He then forced himself to get up and run away with his partner.

I turned to the pet that had had his paw on my shoulder, knowing who it was before I did. King Altador nodded at me and said, "Taking on such odds for something important was brave. I'd bet you'd make a fine female knight some day." **(Saura: That's not what he exactly says. Authoress: bangs head on keyboard) **Remembering what Tormund had said, I mimicked him, "Thank you, sir. I hope to." "I know you will." Finished King Altador with a smile.

So since we were done talking, I went over to the package and picked it up, and continued on with my quest. I had memorized every single building and every single area where they were located, so, for some added fun, I made my way to the Army Recruitment Center with my eyes closed…..okay, maybe I peeked once or twice, but that was because I thought I was going to fall into the river! Inside the Recruitment Center, I handed the techo at the desk my package and he said, "Thank you, m'lady." I stood there, waiting for him to ask if I wanted to be a squire until he commented, "M'lady, do you need anything else?" I then remembered that I was a girl, so this could be just a little tough. So I put on a serious face and declared proudly, "I want to become the first female knight!"

Silence….

Then the techo started to laugh. Once he had finally stopped, he wiped his eyes and told me, "M-m'lady, heh, I'm much humored, I'm afraid. I beg your pardon, but, women do not become knights." I nodded at him and continued, "Yes! That is why I said I would like to be the FIRST FEMALE knight!" He only stared at me, and I gave him a defiant look. He narrowed his eyes at me and said, "Madam-" though he got not farther as I berated him, "No, listen to me! I will not take your silly manners because I'm a girl! I can be just as good as any of you men and I will be! Just give me a ding-dong chance!" I started to pant after saying all this, and the techo sighed. "Ma'am-" Yet I again interrupted, "Just give me a chance, please!" He only stared at me, and I could imagine that his conscience was going crazy. Finally, FINALLY, he said, "Well, maybe I could let you, but do you have the requirements?" and at this he looked at me expectantly.

"No," I said, "But I know that I need a sword and a shield, a knight to sponsor me, and my parent's permission." Mr. Techo raised his eyebrows **(do techos have eyebrows?)** and nodded slowly. "Yes, and do you have such things?" I shook my head no and said, "No, but I'll be right back with a shield." And ran out of the place before he could say anything more.

I knew that there were two shields I could get. Either fight and win one from the arena, or buy one at the armor shop. I thought about it, then decided that I would buy one, then go fight and get a money prize. Peeeerrrrrfect! So I ran over to the Armory, bought a wooden shield, and then dashed to the arena. The acara standing in front of it yelled out to passerbys, "Come fight and win a shield! Get in for free and fight to become Champion!" I casually strolled up to her and said, "Yes, I would like to fight." The woman gave me a humored look and replied, "Er, miss…" I glared at her and told her angrily, "Look, I'm a girl. I know. Just give a chance. If I don't win this first time, I will never bother you again." The acara glowered accusingly at me, but gestured at the arena anyways and explained, "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn ya. No restoratives. Brawn against brawn." For a reply, I just walked right in.

My opponent entered as well, being that bandit I always was able to defeat. The acara introduced us, and it was on. I didn't move, and neither did the bandit. A few moments later, a cough echoed from the stands, and some guy yelled out, "Get on with it!" I glanced up at the particular dude and scowled. There was my mistake. That was what the bandit had been waiting for. Suddenly, he ran at me, his own sword aimed at my stomach. I noticed in time, and drew out Toast, countering the blows the bandit made. I smacked him with Toast, and pain lanced up my thigh as he hit me as well. I backpedaled as fast as I could away from him to gain my composure, but he was relentless. Soon enough, he had me pinned; I was on my knees as he raised his sword up for the finishing blow, but at the last minute, my adrenaline saved me, and I held Toast with both paws and brought the wooden weapon up and at the bandit's chin. It conked him on the jaw pretty roughly, and I was sickened by remembering the meerca thief a few minutes before. But my strike had done it. The bandit let out an 'ungh!' sound a fell backwards. I cocked my head at him, making sure that he was truly defeated, and I was satisfied.

Ignoring the cheers behind me, I walked out to the entrance and smirked at the acara. She sneered at me and said, "Guess ya did it." I nodded. "Guess I did. My reward, if you will…" and I held out my paw. She was going to hand me a wooden shield when she saw the other one on my back. Frowning, she instead handed me a sack of neopoints. I smiled and curtsied, then walked off. I arrived at the Army Recruitment Center to see the techo talking to a draik guard, who saluted and sauntered to the right into the room where some jail cells and the psycho gelert were. I could tell that Mr. Techo was surprised to see me back with a shield. I'd decided to call him Mr. Techo since I didn't know his name, and my shield was named 'Butter'. I held out the wooden items and he nodded ever so slowly, saying, "I guess you want the Sponsor Form now?" I nodded, and raised the wooden things over my head, yelling, "Butter Toast rule!" When Mr. Techo stared at me in a scared way, I laughed nervously and said, "Um, yes, I would like the, uh, sponsor thingy. And don't worry, I'm sane!"

He handed me the paper and I smiled as I again headed out the door thinking, "GO ME!!!"

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**Me: Another chappie! WOO!**

**Saura: Don't hurt yourself in your excitement…**

**-Shadow the Hedgehog walks in-**

**Shadow: You said you were going to work on my story, Cat.**

**Me: Dude, get out! You can't be in here, you're not a neopet! And I will work on the story, just later!**

**Shadow: folds arms Yeah, uh hunh. **

**Saura: drooling Shadoooooowww….**

**Me: Get out Shadow, or I'll release Saura.**

**Shadow: backs away slowly **

**R&R please! Pretty please!**


	4. Squirehood At Last! OMG!

**Guess what! Another chapter! Woo!**

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Saura's POV

Yes! Finally, I could go and get Master Torak, a.k.a. Torakar from Altador, to sponsor me. I was in an absolutely good mood, so I walked a little too retartedly to the Tavern, causing a few of the less ignorant pets to stare. And if you play the game, you should know that walking around Meridell takes FOREVER, even when running while holding the R1 button! And I wasn't running either, I was walking. So it took even LONGER. Once I'd made it to my destination, I was pretty sure that it took me an hour to get there. Ever had one of those instances where you have to go to a specific place in Meridell, and you run one way, only to find that the other way was much shorter? I HATED those moments! But enough of that. It was time to get sponsored! I walked casually as I could into the Tavern, immediately spotting Master Torak. Then I realized something: the reason he looked so ticked off was because his sword was broken. I forgot to repair the gosh-be-darned thing! Now I had to go all the way to the platforms to get the pieces of the sword, buy one from the psycho gelert Torak had fought earlier, get the sword repaired, and come all the way back to the Tavern! I could have just done that! Darn me to heck! So I stormed back out, making even more pets stare, but right now, I was too miffed to care.

Plus, I didn't care that I was supposed to talk to the guards at the castle door to "learn" about what happened when Torak fought the dude, I just wanted to get this over with. So to the left of the town square, I climbed the ladder onto the first platform and got my first piece of sword. Then, I crossed the plank to get the second, back to the first platform, up the next ladder, down the zip line, **(weeeeeee!) **and I had the third piece of shiny sword. I had the tip, blade, and cross guard of the sword, now I needed the last piece. **(I forgot what it was. Was it another blade piece? Whatever.) **Sighing, I ran to the Army Recruitment Center, ignored Mr. Techo, and went to the jail cells to the left of the main room. I found the blue gelert there, smiling like the psycho he was.

I approached the cell and put my paws against the bars, trying to look like an innocent and curious little girl. When the gelert looked up at me, I cocked my head in what I hoped was a cute way. "Whadya want, girly?" he snapped, making the 'little girl' act instantly go away. I sneered at him, hopefully fooling him like my cuteness didn't. I was never much of a tough, bossy, commanding, sneering, smirking, etc. person, so I really didn't think I could pull it off…but I had to try. "What happened between you and Master Torak earlier during the fight?" I asked with my head held high. He gave me a crazy **(as in needs to be in an asylum)** smile and asked me back, "You work for the paper, kid?" then he shook his head, still grinning **(not a pretty picture),** "But, I have a little something of his." And at this, he giggled like a naughty child. I frowned and said, "Yeah, piece of the sword, isn't it?" He looked up at me, obviously surprised. Was he sober? He seemed pretty drunk to me…, "Howja know?" he asked hoarsely. I pressed my face to the bars of his cell and tried to look menacing as I replied, "Answer my question first. I'll pay you 100 NP for it."

At my mention of this, he brightened up. **(No, guess he wasn't drunk. He'd be** **funnier and stupider if he was.)** "Yeah, yeah, gimme!" he said, holding his paws out as if asking for a cookie. He DID seem to be like a child, even more than I could be!** (That's saying something!)** I glared at him and said, "Show me the sword piece first and give it to me. Then I'll give you the NP. And don't worry, I will give it to you, I keep my promises." The gelert nodded eagerly and pulled out the sword piece from his pocket. I grimaced. No telling where that thing had been. He handed me the piece, and I gave him the money. "Heheh! You're not so bad after all, kid! Easiest 100 I've ever made!" I smiled sweetly at him, not being able to resist torturing him, and said, "Yes. Good job. What are you going to spend it on in your nice, cozy cell?" He seemed to think for a moment, then the smile disappeared, and the lower half of one of his eyelids twitched. I walked away, laughing silently as his profane and unsafe for young ears shouts followed me out the door. I ran over to the Smithy's, glad that I finally had all pieces of the sword. When I'd entered in, the scorchio at the front looked up, and then looked back down with an agitated face. "I'm very busy with all these squire sword orders! Come back later!" I rolled my eyes and brought over the sword pieces. When he saw the unique markings on the shiny objects, his eyes widened and his expression changed. "The Man at Arms' sword! It would be and honor to reforge this!" and he quickly snatched up the sword pieces and got to work. I yawned as he fixed it, not paying any attention as he muttered to himself.

Finally, he had it all reforged, and I had to say, it was pretty impressive! Shiny, very shiny. It had a long blade which was very shiny, and it had a pretty golden hilt, which was also very shiny. But the best part was…..IT WAS SOOOO SHINY!!!! I took it from the smithy and thanked him, and before leaving, bought the squire sword on the counter. 'Yay,' I thought, 'A newer, stronger, metal weapon! I do dub thee….' I looked over the sword, running my paw up it to check texture, wondering what name I could devise from it. Nothing special, and it wasn't too shiny. **(But it was definitely shinier than** **poor Toast.)** I paused. Speaking of Toast……, "Toast?" I called, "Toast?! I lost my Toast!!!!!" I shrieked. "Don't we all?" said the smithy, and I looked at him questioningly. "Why, just this morning I put my toast on the table, and it was gone…" He sighed with a blissful look on his face. I backed away, guessing that now that I had a new sword, it was obvious that Toast had to go away. I was going to miss him, but oh well. I felt the hilt of the squire sword, only to feel that it had a sort of twisty shape to it. Then I got it. The name. "I do dub thee…..Squire Squiggle!!!" I held up Squire Squiggle boldly. Remembering that the smithy was in there, I thanked him, and dashed outside.

FINALLY, I returned to the Tavern, Master Torak's sword out. I got to his table and handed him his sword, noting that everyone was staring in awe at me. 'Okay, people. Feeling a little too self conscious and paranoid now.' I thought, swallowing nervously before turning my attention to Master Torak, who was holding his sword, mouth agape. "M-my sword!" he cried, making me feel more and more like I wanted to disappear, "You, you got my sword back! Thank you, m'lady, thank you!" I sighed, knowing I had to get this over with. I took out the Sponsor Form and held it out to Master Torak. "Eh, what's this?" he demanded. I swallowed again and replied, "I want to become a-the first female knight. I just need you to sponsor me." Torak looked at me in sheer awe and surprise, and I knew he was probably wondering if I were serious. "And before you say anything else, tell me how much weaker I am than a guy if I fought and won against the bandit in the arena. And why I have a sword. And why the heck I was given this sponsor form by the techo." Master Torak looked at me expressionlessly, obviously thinking it over. Then he suddenly took the form and said, "Fine. Go to –insert techo dude's name here- and tell him I will sponsor you. Once you have what you need, come meet me in the castle." And he walked out of the Tavern. I hastily tried to follow him when a lupe stepped in front of me, saying, "How did you-" but I cut him off, "NO DANGED STINKIN' COMMENT!!!!!!" Apparently, the suspense had built up a LITTLE too much in me, so I got out of there as fast as I could.

I was over at the Army Recruitment Center soon enough and told Mr. Techo, "Okay, Master Torak's gonna sponsor me, so give me the Letter of Consent thingy." Mr. Techo gaped at me and a frowned at him, and he shook his head to stop himself from staring and handed me the paper. "Thank you." I said, and walked out the door. Okay, two down, one to go. I started out walking, but decided that I was being way too slow and began to run back to Meri Acres. At the bridge, I met up with King Altador, and thought of it as a good idea to talk to him. We talked about all that sappy 'you need to prove it to your parents that you are ready' stuff and I raced off. Through the other farms and I had made it to my own. **(Or was it Tor's own? Who cared? It was mine temporarily** **anyways.)** I approached Patricia and Hubert, and of course, **(Omigosh…)** no Lucy. Putting on another act, I asked, "Oh mother and father! Where ever could dearest Lucy be?" Patricia said, "Oh, Sar! We were so worried!" Hubert continued, explaining, "When you didn't come back, we got worried. We sent Lucy out to do your chores, but she didn't come back." Patricia cut in, continuing, "She was mad that you got to go to Meridell and not her. She said that she wanted to go on an adventure, too. You don't think she-" Here she looked at Hubert, who said, "You don't think she went into Shadowglen Woods, would she? Sar, you must go find her!" Once again Patricia had to say something, "Please Sar. It's getting dark, and if she's lost and all alone, who knows what could happen to her?!"

'Are you done?' I thought as I nodded and turned my back on them, walking away. Behind me, I could hear Patricia sobbing and Hubert yelling, "LUCY!!" Okay, I won't torture you with the details of how I walked through Meri Acres Farms, so let's skip to the part where I arrive at the bridge. I went to the left, following the path that went to Shadowglen. Down the ledges, more of the path, and finally at the cave-like entrance of Shadowglen. As I walked through it, I noticed that the grass became more grey tinted and I wondered, 'How does grass grow in here with absolutely NO sunlight?' I dismissed the thoughts, focusing on the more important part of the quest. The tunnel ended and I looked at my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was the creepy music. I gasped. All this time, I had been going around so many different areas and was so used to hearing the music themes, that I had not noticed them. Now, I heard it. That ultra creepy theme of Shadowglen's. I shook my fist in the air and screamed, "Shut up! I hate you! Darn you to heck!" Okay, a little explanation here. I had gone through a phase when playing this game where I became scared of the creepy places, and going into the purple clouds. I'd hated it. **(Believe it or not peoples, I, Cat, was scared to play certain parts of the game for** **a while! Then I got better and forgot about it. But I was SERIOUSLY scared.) **I sighed, regaining my composure. I had to get this over with. So I ran. I ran down the slope, through that flat area of land where all those plant monsters are, up that neat little circle-shaped wooden bridge, up those ledges as I killed that evil vine like monster, down the zip line, across more flat land, up a path, on another ledge and climbing up those odd brown vines, MORE flat land, up some ledges, across that huge log plank, down the zip line, got the four leaf clover, across the river, and I had made it. I was at the entrance of the Juppie Monster's lair, and bringing out Squire Squiggly, I walked in. As soon as I had entered it, vines climbed up the entrance behind me and up the walls. I heard that Juppie Monster theme music, but it was distant as I spotted Lucy struggling in more vines, squealing, "HELP!!!!"

Suddenly, a loud rumbling was heard, and the Juppie Monster exploded out of that disgusting yellow goop, before going back in it. I heard a distinct rustling noise and turned around to smack a vine tentacle that had snuck up behind me. A giant juppie fell from the roof and I quickly got onto it. The Juppie Monster emerged out of the yellow liquid again. I roared and I leapt off the juppie as fast as I could. The monster struck out and stunned itself as it smashed the juppie, splattering me with juppie gunk. I made a face, but attacked the Juppie Monster viciously anyways, trying to slice its head off and yelling, "Die, die, DIE!!!!" After repeating this a few times, the Monster was dead. Lucy was slowly let down and skipped over to me, saying thank you before running out of the back of the cave. I followed her.

We ended out at our farm, and I cut down the negg plant on the ledge, getting a red negg in the process. Yay me! I jumped off of the ledge, and did one of those fancy somersaults again before straightening up and making my way back to the cabin.

I was pretty relieved to see the sunlight again after being in such a gloomy abode, **(did I use that word righ**t?) and took a deep breath. Happy me. I walked out of the crop field and went into the cabin to see Lucy explaining the battle between me and the Juppie Monster. "And then, it let out a BIG ROAR, and it wrapped its tentacles around her and I thought it was going to eat 'er, but she came it, HI-YAH!!!" Here she made a swishing motion as if wielding a sword, and then sighed, finishing with, "She was so brave!"

Trying to be like Tor, I ruffled Lucy's hair, and braced myself as Patricia suddenly hugged me saying, "Oh, Sar thank you!" I squirmed out of her arms, and said, "Listen, I went to Meridell, and they asked me if I wanted to be a squire!" I totally knew that wasn't true, but they didn't know that, "I could be the first female knight some day!! I just need you to…" I pretended to guiltily pull out the Letter of Consent, "Sign this." I bowed my head as if to say, 'Well, what do you think?'

Hubert and Patricia looked at each other. "Is this what you really want, Sar?" asked Hubert. "More than anything." I answered. He took the paper from my paws and smiled. "You've grown up faster than we imagined. You'll make a fine knight some day."

"My sister's going to be a knight!!!" squealed Lucy. "Write to us, often. And be careful." Patricia advised me with a pleading expression on her face. Hubert handed the signed Letter of Consent back to me, and we all headed out the door. I rushed away before I could be pulled into more bone crushing hugs, but still waved and shouted a goodbye to them as I dashed out the Ellis Family Farm. **(I finally remembered what it** **was called!!) **

Again, I will not use detail in how I uneventfully traveled through Meri Acres, down the paths, and over the bridge. So, let's start off at the Army Recruitment Center. I entered it with a broad smile on my face, and gave Mr. Techo the Letter of Consent. He nodded and said, "Well, that's all of it. Sorry about the run around I gave you. It helps weed out those who weren't cut out for being knights…or knightesses in your case. If you become a knight that is." He fished a chain mail squire's uniform from a drawer in his desk and handed it to me. I went into the next room and changed, and like Toast, my old clothes disappeared. Not that I cared; they itched.

Once I made sure that the uniform fit well, I took the rope off of my old clothes and tied my hair back with it. It was pretty thin, and stayed in. I guessed that it would be tough to do a 360 attack with my hair swishing all around me. I came out, thanked Mr. Techo, and walked out the door.

'Omg,' I realized, 'I'm a squire! OMG!' Sure, I didn't have to be so excited about it…but I was. I ran to the town square and entered the castle. I met Master Torak in the entryway, just like in the game. I approached him, and before I could say anything, he talked first, "Good, you're here. Well, what's your name, girl?" "Sar, sir." I told him, remembering to add the 'sir.' "All right then, Sar. You think life on the farm was hard? Well, it's going to be ten times worse here! Go get some sleep in the squire barracks! It will be the last sound sleep you have in a long time!"

Normal POV

Saura nodded, and went down the hallway that branched off to the left. She took a right down the next corridor, and at the end of it, made a left into the squire barracks. She remembered the first time that she had ever played this game, and got lost way too many times in the castle, just plain searching for the barracks! It now made her laugh, and she allowed herself a small smile.

In the barracks, she immediately saw Squire Grayson. She walked up to the green lupe and tapped his shoulder. He turned and blinked upon seeing her. "Yes, I'm a girl. I'm going to be the first girl knight in history!!! And by the way, I'm Sar!" she extended a paw, which Grayson slowly took and shook. (That rhymes!)

"I'm Grayson," said Grayson, "Um, good luck I guess." Saura smiled sweetly at him before walking over to her bed and falling asleep, when she had and odd dream. It was of a demonic looking faerie emerging out of water onto a beach and talking to herself about how the world was now fully of rainbows and bunny rabbits. In the morning, Saura didn't remember any of it.

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**Me: Hi peoples! Part four is up! Go Saura, she made it! Woo!**

**Saura: -is over in the corner- Rainbows and bunny rabbits….make them all go away…**


	5. Squire Chores and Tasks

**Alas…another chapter!!!!**

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Suddenly, Saura was jerked out of her dream by someone roughly shaking her. She opened her eyes and glared at Grayson, who had been the one to wake her up.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "But Master Torak said that training starts soon and you'd better be up and in the courtyard asap."

The yellow female lupe groaned and sat up, and Grayson said another 'Sorry' before searching for his own sword. Saura sighed and found her squire's uniform and began to fit it on, only to see once she had turned around, that Grayson swiveled his head to look in front of him, instead of at her as he was just doing. Plus, she could tell that he was blushing. Seconds later, the two walked out into the courtyard, the green one with a distinct red paw outline on his cheek.

They went into one of the three fenced in areas where Master Torak was located.

"Alright," said Torak, "Today we are going to practice the basics of sword use. Any fool can swing a sword, but real knights time out their attacks, and increase the amount of damage upon their enemies. Grayson, go over to that target dummy over there," he pointed to his left, "and Sar, you practice with this one. Now, the move I am going to teach you is the 3-point strike. To perform this, swing your sword once, and look for the telltale shine on the end. Then, strike the other direction, and watch for the next shine, and swing once more in the direction opposite of that, the first way you swung. Soon enough, you'll get used to timing out the strikes that you may not need to watch for the shine. Now get to it!" and he backed away a few steps to give Saura room.

The yellow lupe looked up at the dummy and examined it. It was made of straw tied together and stuck to a wooden pole. She did as Master Torak said, but after so many times of playing the Darkest Faerie game, she did not need to watch for the shine. It was just like using the 3-point on the game, except that she was doing it in real life. Or was it real? Eh, who cared?

Saura had thought that Squire Squiggle would be heavy, but he was light and easy to use. It only took her once to perform the move on the target dummy, and she glanced at Grayson to see him still trying to get it right. 'He can get to the second swing all right,' she remarked mentally, 'But I think he panics at the third and does it either too slowly, resulting in doing a 1-point strike, or he does it too fast, and almost hits himself with it. I would sympathize if it were not for earlier…'

She turned to Master Torak, who nodded, saying, "Good job, Sar. But none of what I teach you is effective without discipline. Go to Mistress Faun, the cleaning woman in the storage room, and help her with whatever she needs you to do. And Grayson…once you've mastered the 3-point strike, you've got Clog Duty."

Taking it that she was dismissed, Saura walked away and back to the castle. Without really thinking about where she was going, she went down to the main entryway, walked down the passage that led to the right from there, and took the left of the two doors at the end of the corridor. She found herself in the dining hall, and knew she was on the right track. Passing the tables and pets scattered everywhere, she traveled down the hall at the corner of the hall, and came to the storage room.

A little creamy green blur shot instantly away from her as she entered it, and smiled at the innocence of the miamice. She approached Faun, a.k.a. Fauna the Pet-pet Handler and asked, "Do you require assistance, ma'am?"

Faun nodded and told her, "Yes, thank you. As you can see, there are miamice running around, and of course being next to the kitchens, the cook doesn't like it. Could you please catch the little dears and put them in that box over there?" the yellow acara gestured to the cage-like box against the wall, "And you have to SNEAK UP ON THEM, or they'll hear you and just run away. And do be careful, the last squire almost squished them!"

Saura nodded and turned away from Faun, looking for a miamouse. She spotted one, and frowned. Was sneaking as instinctive as tumbling after landing from a high jump like at the farm? She bunched herself up, bowing her head below her shoulders and crouching slightly. She lifted her lower arms a little so that they were straight out from her elbows and upper arms, a 90 degree angle.

But it didn't feel right. In fact, she felt just plain retarded. So, she concentrated, and thought about feeling like she was sneaking. Again, she tried to assume the sneaking position, and found that if she didn't concentrate SO much, it came to her naturally. Now she could easily imagine herself looking like Tor.

Saura looked back at the miamouse, whose back was fortunately turned away from her, and she crept up to it. At the last second, she snatched it up, and it started to squirm in her clutches. She walked over to the box and set the startled and shaken pet-pet down in it.

This continued four more times, and Saura finally had all five inside the box. She reported to Faun, who thanked her, saying, "Oh, thank you, my dear! I shall tell Master Torak what a wonderful job you did!" and she spoke to the miamice, saying, "Don't worry, my dears, you'll be back in the courtyard where you belong, safe and sound!"

So Saura exited the storage room and returned to the courtyard.

This time, she found Master Torak and Grayson in a different fenced area that contained three target dummies. Master Torak greeted her with, "Ah, good, you're back. Your friend here finally was able to perform a satisfactory 3-point strike AND finish clog duty before you. You are quite slow, fix that will you?"

'Hey, those miamice are vicious, okay?! YOU go and pick one up and see what happens! The little demons could be meepits in disguise for all we know!' thought Saura, looking at a bite mark on her finger.

"All right!" said Torak, "Now, we will go on with the 360 attack. See the three target dummies in a circle over there?" he pointed to them, "Stand in the middle and spin with your sword outstretched from you, and you will hit all dummies in one swing. Mind you, you WILL be dizzy afterwards, so don't keep on using this move! It is designed for hitting multiple enemies at once, and it can be pretty useful."

Saura approached the target dummies first, stood in the middle of them, and swung out her sword while turning a full circle. "Good!" she heard Master Torak say, "Now Grayson, you do it. Sar, you have **clog duty**." I didn't think anyone could have put more emphasis on the words 'clog duty', but I wasn't scared. Go into the sewers, slash away a few clogs, avoid a few slorgs and tentacles, and whoop-de-doo, I'm done.' Then, a sudden thought echoed in her mind. 'Sewers…………………….ick.'

So she set off to do what she was told. A few minutes later, she found the dungeon entrance guard, and got permission to enter the dungeons. She descended the steps and blinked a few times. It was dank and the lighting wasn't so good. Nonetheless, she saw the sewer's entrance to her right and walked over to the switch, flipped it, and ventured down into the muck, all the while thinking, 'Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew….'

Down in the sewers, Saura wrinkled her nose, and stood frozen for a second, a completely humorous, grossed out look on her face. It took all her self control to not scream out in horror, "OMIGOSH!!!!"

She lifted one foot out of the greenish water, and one of her eyelids twitched. She put her foot down and finally let out a wail of distraught. But she knew she had to get it done, so she inhaled slowly, and then let it all out, which wasn't easy considering the smell.

She ventured forward, and took the hallway to the right. Starting to run, she raised Squire Squiggle in the air, and clobbered the unsuspecting slorg in the room. She had only gotten one hit in, though, before the slorg lunged at her and bit her, and she noticed that she started to glow red for a second, then turned yellow again.

Saura bared her teeth at it, and swung Squire Squiggle down in an arc, and the slorg exploded into neopoints.

She began to collect the neopoints when a thought entered her mind. 'Am I low on health? Do I need to eat a juppie?' She bit her lip, wondering what to do. The red negg after Shadowglen had just disappeared, so wouldn't the juppies also disappear? But how was she to get one in her paws to eat it?

She held out her paw timidly and waited. "Um, appear juppie!" she said in a commanding voice. Nothing happened. 'Dang it, I really need a juppie right now!' she thought, and all of a sudden, a small red juppie appeared in her paw and she gasped. Okay, now what?

As suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared and Saura realized that she was feeling quite well and full, at least, more than she was a moment ago…

Nodding to herself in satisfaction, the lupe bounded out of that area and went to the left this time, running down the curved tunnel. She came to a clog and performed the 3-point strike on it. With a loud crunching and crashing sound, it disappeared and small bits of debris flew everywhere.

Saura turned and backtracked, knowing that she could not go any farther if she tried, and that meant she had to take the path straight ahead this time. A tentacle suddenly came out of the water, but Saura was ready. She leaped into the air and brought Squire Squiggle down with much force. The tentacle hissed and sank back into the water. Saura stood staring at the place where the tentacle had gone down, mouth slightly agape. Did…that tentacle…just hiss? How in the heck did tentacles hiss?! Not wanting to know actually, she kept running forward.

As she went on completing the quest, Saura remembered how much she had hated it!!! Getting lost, killed, and just plain frustrated. Especially the larger rooms with the pillars in the middle, containing several tentacles and a slorg or two. Finally, she came to the last clog and heaved an overly dramatic sigh of relief. DONE. She was done.

So Saura climbed back up the ladder into the castle, SUPER self conscious of the smell clinging to her, but knew that there was nothing she could do about it. Exiting the castle and in the courtyard, she saw Master Torak on that big wooden platform thing. You know, next to the canopies?

When she had run up the stairs, she heard Torak saying something about motes, then said, "Now, any volunteers?"

"I'll do it, Sir!" yelled Saura, stepping forward.

"Alright then, Sar. Get over here!" said Torak.

Saura approached him, endured more boring and useless, to her at least, explanations of motes. Finally, he ordered her to equip the fire mote to her sword, which she did. She did as he said, and hit the target dummy in front of her, then hit it after holding in the power, and set it on fire. The first thought that entered her mind was, 'Pretty….glowing….oooooooohhh……How much does it hurt to get burned?'

She reached out to poke it, but Master Torak saved her from her stupidity and told her to meet Chamber man Lazlo on the second story in the castle. Reluctantly, Saura walked away from it and headed towards the castle, when suddenly…

"Hey Sar!" came Grayson's voice. Saura whipped around to see him running to her. Once he'd reached her, he asked, "What was it like, using the motes?" She stared for a second as he panted heavily, then asked a question herself.

"And how far did you run again….making yourself all out of breath?

"…"

"You know that you only ran here from the fenced in area over there, right?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"You're seriously out of shape, dude."

"I know, I'm working on it!" snapped Grayson. Saura glared at him and shrugged, then walked away. 'What is his problem?' she wondered.

She jogged up the stairs to the second story of the castle and arrived to see Lazlo pacing, wringing his paws, and muttering nervously under his breath. Saura approached him slowly, but still surprising him anyway.

"Oh, thank goodness, there you are!" cried Lazlo, quite obviously relieved, "Did you hear that racket in the courtyard? Of course you did, you were just out there," he answered for her before she could say anything, "Well, those crokabeks out there are keeping the king up, and if he doesn't get his nap in, he'll be very cranky. PLEASE go and destroy the crokabek nests and get rid of the crokabeks, or the king will be in a very bad mood!" Saura backed away from the stressed Chamber man and dashed back out to the courtyard. 'Which one do I get rid of first?' she questioned herself mentally. She was able to decide, and ran to the left to the fenced in area where they had practiced the 360 spin attack. Climbing up the ladder, her eye twitched as she was faced with a problem. There sat a crokabek at the top of the ladder, staring her down. Saura gulped and said, "Sup, crocky. Um, listen, can I get up there so I can defeat you and destroy your nest, please?"

"SQUAK!!!" screeched the crokabek and gave her an almighty peck on her head. "Argh!" she cried, letting go of the ladder and tumbling to the ground with a small 'thud'. Opening her eyes, she saw the crokabek diving towards her at an amazing speed. "OMG!!!" she shrieked, jumping up and slashing Squire Squiggle as fast as was possible to her.

Feeling Squire Squiggle hit something, she turned her head back to the crokabek, or at least what should have been a crokabek, but was now a juppie hovering in midair. Saura gaped at it, and reached a finger out to poke it. When she did, it disappeared, and she knew that it had been put into her inventory.

Now that the crokabek was gone, the girl was able to climb up the ladder, onto the canopy, leap onto the large block of stone, scramble up another block of stone, then destroy the nest with a 3-point strike. 'Yayness.' She thought happily.

She jumped down and ran back to the platform thing, bounced across the canopies, onto the roof of the stables, and took out another crokabek and its nest. Saura also jumped off of it, really amused at not dying when she hit the ground. She ran down the courtyard path, and arrived and climbed up the green, leafy vines that grew up the wall in a straight line. She destroyed yet another nest behind the King Skarl statue, along with its maker **(the nest, not the statue!)**. Again, she leaped off the ledge, and landed unscathed.

She did the same with the nests that were on the construction crew's platforms, and on the roof of the stables. After having destroyed all the nests, and killed all the crokabeks, she went back over to the turtum and smiled evilly. Saura smacked the turtum on the shell, and clambered onto its shell….and waited. Suddenly…

BOING!!! Saura was ejected into the air. She repeated this five more times before deciding that she'd better hurry to Lazlo to tell him that she was done. Once again, she had to reluctantly leave something that piqued her interest. But she was still pretty glad that she was done for the day.

She reported to Lazlo, and finally was allowed to return to the Squire Barracks to get some sleep. Settling comfortably in, she smiled as she thought about the adventure she'd be going on the next day.

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**Me: I finally finished another chapter! Sorry for the long wait! **

**Saura: Read and – 'WHAM"**

**Me: Hey, only I'M supposed to say it. Ahem. Read and Review!**

**Saura: Ow….**


	6. Onward To Cogham!

**The sixth chapter! YES!!**

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Saura's POV

The next morning, I was happy to wake up on my own instead of being woken up by a certain pervert. But as I got into my squire's uniform while thinking this, he ran in and cried, "Sar! Master Torak says you need to meet him in the Castle Entryway! You're going on a mission!"

I brightened up at hearing this, as I had forgotten about my journey to Cogham, and joyfully dashed down the hall to the waiting Torak. I knew that I had to be vibrating with excitement as he said, "Sar, ixi raiders have invaded Cogham. Go to the Dining Hall and get Sir Harlag. He is the knight you will ride with."

As soon as he had stopped talking, I zoomed down the hallway to the right, and entered the room to the left at the end of it. In the Dining Hall, I saw Sir Harlag sitting at the end of a table, currently munching on a loaf of bread. I walked over to him and said, "Sir! Master Torak has ordered me to accompany you on the ride to Cogham!"

I knew that the guy wasn't going to help, but what I got was worse than I had thought.

"Go away, m'lady!" he barked without even looking at me, "Keep joking like that and you'll be punished."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Excuse me, my dear sir, but I am the squire you are to ride with to Cogham, if you'll excuse me!" I declared. Suddenly, he sprayed his drink and looked at me with a crazy look, saying, "M'lady-" but stopped when he looked at me. Obviously, he was surprised at seeing me in a squire's uniform, telling the truth.

He shook his head, and began to talk again, "I don't know WHAT the knight sponsoring you was thinking, but it doesn't matter. I'm not done eating."

"But sir, Cogham is in trouble!" I argued. "That flyspeck of a town is always in trouble! Now, if all you're going to do is stand around, then get me some meat!" he retorted. I turned and made my way out of the hall. Angrily, I stomped into the Main Entryway to see King Altador there. He called to me, "Hello, young squiress, aren't you going to ride to Cogham soon?"

I shook my head, and replied, "Not until Sir Stuffs-His-Mean-Greedy-Glutton-Face is ready." "Mind your manners when talking about your superiors, squiress." He scolded. I looked him in the eye and quoted Tor, saying, "It's just that…while he eats and does nothing, innocent pets may be hurt or need help." "What would you do if your farm was under attack?" asked the king. "….I would go and try to save it as quickly as I could." I answered.

"Then what's stopping you now?"

I didn't say anything for a few seconds, and then smiled at him. "You're right. Thank you, Sir." He smiled back and nodded, and I took off out the door and towards Cogham.

Once on the path, it didn't take long for me to reach the ledges and cliffs that made me sure that I was getting closer to Cogham. I passed Motara's Motes and kept going past the Old Forgotten Mines. Soon enough, I spotted the bridge that led into the small village of Cogham. I ran across, made my way up the ledges, and I had reached it. The first thing I saw was an ixi raider chasing that white kau with blue hair.

I charged down towards them, but had to wait until they came back around. When they did, the raider saw me and let out a cry that sounded like he was saying, "Hau!" I let out my own war cry, which was, "Begone evil thing!" Yeah, I'd repeated that a few times when playing the game. Heheh.

I used the 3-point strike against him, then did it one more time before he fell over onto his side, letting out an, "Eugh!" sounding grunt. After applying a fire mote to my shield and armor, and putting a bubble mote on my sword, I ran around, taking out the three remaining ixis. Then, I climbed up the ledges to the Mayor's house and got rid of the last one.

The mayor, the yellow kacheek named Jurgin, came out of his home and greeted me nicely by saying, "Thank you for getting rid of those ixis-" he stopped, and cocked his head at me, then asked, "Are you a woman?" My lower right eyelid twitched and I explained, "Yes, mayor. I'm a female squire, the first to ever be. But enough of that, are there more of those dreaded ixis?" He nodded solemnly and told me, "Yes, many more. The only way to stop them from coming back is to defeat their Chief."

I couldn't imagine anyone looking more dejected than he did now, and I reassured him, "Mayor, I will go and take care of the Chief. Don't you worry." He looked at me, bewildered and said, "Aren't there more of you?!" I could have sworn that one of those anime sweat drops appeared on my head as I said, "Er, well, not now. I mean, I am the only one right now…but it doesn't matter! I can take care of it, like I said!" and before he could say anything more, I dashed off behind his house, over the bridge, and towards the Ixi Chieftain.

Normal POV

Saura made her way through the little cavern area and climbed up the ladder on the other side.Finally, she had arrived in the mountains of Cogham. She inhaled, then exhaled slowly, and began. She had crossed only a few bridges, and grabbed that pulsing seed pod that would help Elspeth's plants, when something whizzed dangerously close to her head. She gasped and turned, seeing the ixi archer raider fitting another arrow into his bow string.

She leaped down from the ledge she had been on, and rushed at the ixi. He fired the arrow, and it narrowly missed the yellow lupe. She reached him, and was about to swing at him with Squire Squiggle, when he jumped up, turned in the air, and kicked the heck out of her head.

Saura was knocked backwards, ready to steady herself once she hit the ground…………………..but she didn't hit anything solid. She kept falling backwards, backwards, backwards. It seemed to all go in slow motion to poor Saura, and she realized that she was falling off the cliff! Down, down she went, her feet leaving the ground and air rushing up past her head. The last thing she saw was the ixi archer's triumphant face leering down at her as she plummeted down the canyon. She shut her eyes and screamed, her scream echoing throughout the canyon walls.

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**Saura: So….am I going to die?**

**Me: Maybe, maybe not. Sorry that the chapter was so short, but I thought that I should update soon. I'll be putting a bigger chapter up next. Please review!**


	7. The Journey to the Chieftain!

**Me: Sorry about the last chappie being so short! Here's a longer one!**

**Saura: Read to find out if I die! Omg! …………….wait, I WILL live, right?**

**Me: On with the show!...or chapter…..whichever you prefer.**

**Saura: Hey! I'm over here! Will you answer me?!**

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Normal POV

Saura twisted in midair as she fell into the canyon with amazing speed. Suddenly, there was a loud 'splash' and the lupe felt water go into her squire's uniform. But as sudden as it happened, she felt like she was in the air again, but not falling. Actually, it was kinda nice, and all Saura felt like doing was closing her eyes and sleeping. She heard the cry of a mountain crokabek and opened her eyes a slit. And of course, since the authoress likes to torture her characters, she saw the crokabek flying toward her….but she was going away from it. She was….falling again. Before her mind could register anything, Saura felt something push against her back with much force, and her head ached. She realized that she had just hit ground, solid ground.

…..and then she remembered the crokabek.

Saura leaped up onto her feet just as the crokabek swooped down to attack her. Drawing out Squire Squiggle, she yelled out, "Begone evil thing!", jumped up, and brought her sword down in an arc. Of course, since it was a mountain crokabek, it didn't burst into neopoints with just one hit. It fell to the ground, then got back onto its tiny feet. Saura dashed at it, but right as she got to it, it hopped out of the way. It was then that she realized that she was now at the bottom of the Cogham Mountains, instead of where she originally had been when she got kicked in the head by that ixi. She narrowed her eyes. That ixi! Oh yes, she would definitely deal with him in a very painful way.

And, being Saura, she did not think about that little crokabek…..who sneaked up behind her and nudged her off the edge of the cliff. Once again, she was falling. Down the canyon. And into the river.

The crokabek watched in slight amusement as the yellow lupe girl fell, and his tiny brain tried to work out why the big neopets like that one fell instead of flying. This time, the crokabek was distracted by its thoughts, and didn't see Saura coming up behind it. She raised Squire Squiggle up, and slashed down. With a cry of surprise, the crokabek exploded into neopoints. Saura grinned, liking her revenge she instilled upon the unsuspecting petpet.

So she continued, past the bridges again, and arrived at the spot where she had first fallen down the canyon. There was the ixi, not knowing she was there since she'd used the sneak technique. **(That rhymed! Weeee!) **She yelled out, "Begone evil thing!" and charged at him…………What, you thought that she would be quiet and sneak up on him without saying anything because she remembered what happened last time? Hah! People, this is SAURA we are talking about here. Of course she's just gonna have to yell the war cry.

So, as I was saying, Saura ran at him. This time, she didn't give him a chance to do anything or react. The attack was frenzied and panicked in a way. Between her barrage at one point, when she had stopped to catch a breath, the ixi jumped into the air and clobbered her with his hoof again, but Saura was no where near the edge of the cliff. She'd learned at little something at least. Finally, she gave the last blow, and a purple juppie hovered in midair where the ixi had fallen. For a second, Saura celebrated like a mental person, laughing and shouting, "Omigosh, I finally defeated him, omigosh, omigosh, omigosh, omigosh, omigosh!!!" But it soon ended and the yellow lupe girl continued her journey into the mountains.

Saura's POV

I climbed up the next ledges and realized that my legs were beginning to ache. I had no time to rest, though, before I saw the three ixis that I hated. The two ixi spearmen, and the ixi archer. Gosh, I loathed them. I heard a 'twang' noise and felt a shooting pain in my side as my body flashed red. I whipped around to where the sound had come from, towards the ledge. That ixi archer stood there, fitting another arrow into his bow. Then, I heard something 'clopping' to me, and saw one of the ixi spearmen charging at me. I gasped and screeched, "OMG!"

Running in a zigzag way, I tried to escape, knowing that if I just defeated the Chieftain, all those ixis would disappear. So I held Squire Squiggle up in front of me along with my shield and charged through my assailants. I ran into one of the spearmen and sprawled flat out on my back, cursing myself, "Idiot, idiot, idiot…"

Something went 'ffftht' right by my head, and I looked to see an arrow embedded in the ground. I quickly scrambled to my feet, only to see the point of a spear coming towards me. Letting out a very high pitched shriek, I ducked as the spear grazed the top of my head. I winced, the top of my head stinging like heck, but through it all, I began to run again, this time, actually watching where I was going.

I from there, I ran like a maniac, not registering in my mind where I was, only making sure I didn't run off the edge of a cliff. In fact, I was pretty surprised that I didn't. The next thing I knew, I was next to a ladder, some ixis galloping at me from behind. I let out a squeak, then flew at the ladder, grabbing it with such force that I heard an ominous cracking noise. But I had no time to climb up carefully, since the ixis weren't so far away now. I threw my hands up at the rungs of the wooden ladder and started to make my way up.

Again, I heard that nice little cracking noise. I gulped, seeing the fissure in the wood of the ladder two rungs above me….and it was getting bigger. Panic flowed through my body, and I knew that if I wasn't able to make it up the ladder before it broke completely, I would never be able to get up to the Ixi Chieftain and beat him. Omg…not cool.

Desperately, I scurried up the ladder, and just in time made it to the ledge before it broke away under the weight of the ixi that was climbing up below me. For a second or so, I sat on the ledge, panting, calming myself down. How I hated heights.

I stood up, my legs trembling slightly, from both trying to recover from the shock of almost falling down a ladder, and like I had said, I hated heights. I looked down at the ixis below me, shaking their fists, and yelling up at me. The one that had tried to climb up the ladder behind me was still sprawled out on the ground, but was glaring at me nonetheless. More enemies….greeeaaaaat.

I decided that thinking about this was getting me nowhere close to the Ixi Chieftain, so back to climbing up the cliff face on the ladders I went.

Stopping at the top to survey my surroundings, I realized that it was at the spot where you had to jump onto those two large pillars of rock, then make that really BIG leap to the next one while dodging those two crokabeks. Once I was ready, I backed up a little, and then ran towards the edge of the cliff, and pushed off with all of the strength in my legs. I landed a little less than perfectly, then took off again to the next rock pillar. Again, I could have landed a bit better, but when you have two crokabeks coming after you, and you STILL need to recover from almost falling from a great height, a bit better is a bit impossible.

The crokabeks started to fly around in circles around me, waiting for the right moment to attack. I thought about taking my shield out, but I would need both paws to clutch onto the cliff edge once I had leapt.

I was as far back as I could go, my back against the solitary tree and rock that stood on the pillar. One of the crokabeks screeched, and it was now or never. I dashed to the end of the ledge, and made one last almighty leap. As I soared throughthe air, I stretched out my arms as far as they could reach. Suddenly, I had latched onto something. When I looked up, I saw that it was the cliff's edge. Thank the Lord, I had done it. I hurriedly scrambled up just as the crokabek's beak connected with solid rock wall. Shakily as ever, I stood, turning to the right, jumped again, and ran up the path that led to the area where the switch was that let the water flow in the river.

Soon enough, I spotted the platforms and climbed up onto one, and heaved on the switch. It creaked a little, but gave away, and more water started to go into the wooden box thing.

I turned to watch as those two large wheels started to spin ever so slowly. I was about to turn around and go back to the rock pillars when I remembered one thing I always did in the game. Smiling, I hurried down the ladder, then ran and jumped into the river. That same feeling of water going through my uniform rushed over me, and it stopped. I was falling again onto dry land. This time I was ready and managed to at least land on my stomach instead of flopping on my back. When I lifted my head, I saw that I had been right. I was now right across from the switch on the other side of the river. I didn't have to take the long way! But of course, there was the matter of those ixis that were there as well. My solution was simple: run some more. I ran to the ledge that the cart tracks were at and made my way onto it.

I turned to the left and bolted up the tracks as fast as I could, pulling out Squire Squiggle. I began battering the mound of dirt and rock that held the cart at the top of the hill in place, and finally it was clear. The cart careened down and rammed into the wooden boards at the bottom of the hill. I ran through the gaping hole it had created, running into a clearing and dodging ixis. I climbed up a ladder, ran up the path, and defeated the ixi while avoiding arrows, managing to get past it all. More ledges greeted me, and I struggled to get over them. I'd made it to the top. Now I just had to make that single jump and stay on without falling. That one where you had to jump and hold on to the edge of the cliff because there is no other way to get up besides that hand-over-hand thing. **(I will hate that part 'till the day I die.) **I jumped…and grabbed onto rock. I slid over to the side and hauled myself up. Finally….it was time.

I walked as confidently as possible into the Ixi Chieftain's cave-like arena. There he was, standing on that ledge, the two henchmen on the arena floor.

"See, there she is boss!" exclaimed one. "That's the one who ran us off!"

"You let one little Meridell fool make you retreat?!" cried the Chieftain. 

"Well, she's pretty strong…" said one henchman while the other said, "Yeah, and I heard she had some friends." Then the first finished with, "Pretty big friends."

"SHADDUP!!" shouted the Ixi Chieftain, "Just take her out!"

"Yes sir!" answered the henchmen and they started to come towards me, spears held up.

I bared my teeth and ran at them, barraging them with my power…..or, you know, just smacking them around with a sword, but whatever works is good. I finished them off, receiving two red juppies from them. Suddenly, the Ixi Chieftain had leapt from his perch and said, "I guess I'll be the one to defeat you. I'm going to enjoy this." And he ran at me.

Like in the game, it was an easy battle. Just make sure to keep hitting him, and you win. Of course, he did summon those archers, but it was way too easy to avoid the arrows. And just like that, he made an 'Eugh!' noise, and I had won. I collected his eye patch from the ground and sighed. Sweet, sweet victory.

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**Me: I'm SO SORRY that I didn't update very fast! School started and everything was hectic! Don't expect the next few updates to be soon, but I promise I will stick to the story. **

**Saura: -is covered in dust from being left alone all this time- Please, someone help me… :'(**


	8. KNIGHTHOOD! OMG!

**Me: I like pie.**

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Saura's POV

I sighed as I held the Ixi Chieftain's eye patch in my paw. I wasn't really getting through this game very fast. Then I thought how it was now like real life, and how that would take longer. Much…..much……much………LONGER. Then I realized something that seemed to make my insides squirm. What was going on in the real world while Amy and I were gone? What were my parents thinking right now? They must think I was, like, kidnapped or something! Well, technically, I was kidnapped by the Darkest Faerie, but as I thought about it, I really doubted that my parents would believe that my best friend and I were sucked into the Darkest Faerie game by the faerie herself. I could just hear myself now…, "You see, there was a big purple swirl on the screen, and the Darkest Faerie, you know, the character from my video game, like, teleported me and Amy into it and stuff…" Yeah, that's exactly what I would say.

I felt like running headfirst into one of the rock walls around me. I was SO grounded when I got home. But what could I do about it right now? I was flipping stuck in the game until Amy and I finished it! Nothing I could do but continue. So I climbed out of the arena and leaped down the ledges back to Cogham. Then I decided that it was taking way too long and jumped into the river, and when I was back on dry land, found myself near the bridges that led into the village.

I went up the ladder at the other end of the little cavern like area to find that little green techo there. He gasped and said, "I was so scared! I'm glad that those ixis are gone!" Then he turned abruptly and started to walk away, and I followed him down to the pets of Cogham waiting in the center of the buildings. Once I'd entered the circle they'd formed, they started to clap, and I brought out the eye patch, and gave it to the mayor. He took it from me with a look of pure awe on his face, and then jumped up and down. "You've done it! You've defeated them! Oh thank you, m'lady! I shall tell your sponsor knight of all you have done for us!" I bowed to him, and the pets around me dispersed and returned to their shops. The first thing I did was go into Elspeth's food shop and give her the seed pod. I was given a red negg as thanks, then I ran over to the smithy to buy the Knight's Sword. 'Powerful…kinda heavy, but cool. Cool….very cool…..' "I shall call you Coolio!" I announced to it. "What?" said the smithy, and I dashed out.

I remembered that the armory had a shield as well, and I bought that too.

'Yes,' I thought, 'I can finally return to Meridell and become a knight.' I ran out of Cogham to Drakon Ridge, and on my way to my destination, only to hear the pets talking about the fact that the Ixi Raiders had left Cogham. How they came to find out about it before I arrived perplexed me to say the least. I had always wondered how they knew everything so mysteriously.

Normal POV

With the butterflies in her stomach going crazy, Saura hurried back to the castle. She ran through the huge doors, and down the hallway to King Skarl's throne room, where Master Torak greeted her. In it, she approached the throne cautiously. "Is this the one?" bellowed King Skarl. "Yes, Your Majesty." Answered Master Torak, bowing. The fat king struggled comically out of the chair and said, "Approach!" to Saura, who stood as straight as possibly, lupe ears as pointed as ever. "Kneel!" barked Skarl, who took the sword from the pet on his left. Saura quickly got onto her knees.

By order of –insert what he says here, sorry, I can't remember for the life of me-, I do dub thee…Sir…uh, Sir….well spit it out boy, what's your name?!" "Erm, Saura, sir, er…Your Majesty." Skarl cleared his throat. "Sir….waitaminute. Saura? Are…are you a woman?!" Skarl stared at her incredulously as she herself wondered why he wasn't told about her gender. "Your Majesty, young Saura here has proved herself worthy of knighthood, female or male. I apologize for not informing you earlier." Said Master Torak calmly. Skarl glared at him before saying, "Well, I should hope that you apologize! Who told you that you could change the rules that our ancestors established?! NO, don't tell me, I don't care! Just don't do it again. I'll let it slide for now. Ahem!" he looked at Saura for a second before saying, "Lady Saura, knightess of Meridell, and defender of the realm, of third class!" As he said this, he touched the sword blade to each of Saura's shoulders. She sighed. It was over.

Saura was getting to her feet when suddenly, two draik guards ran in with a blue techo between them. "My lord!", said one of the guards, "A messenger from Illusen!" "Illusen?!" said Skarl, "What does that fern covered forest faerie want now!?" Saura gave Skarl the slightest hint of a glare. Illusen happened to be her favorite faerie.

"My lord, Illusen requires the help of Meridell! The glade is under attack!!" cried the techo. "What? Who would dare attack Illusen?!" demanded Skarl. The techo looked sheepishly to the ground and said, "It's…um…the Werelupe King…Your Majesty." "The Werelupe King!?!" said Skarl astoundedly, "The last time he rose up against her, she turned him into a doglefox, FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH!" At this, he laughed. "Ahem. Guards, take this lying little no-name and throw him into the moat!" he commanded. The guards seized the techo, who began to struggle against them, and went into a panicked rant, "But Illusen hasn't been herself lately! Dark clouds formed over the glade and she hasn't been seen for days! PLEASE, YOU MUST HAVE SEEN THEM!!!" Now he was just plain hysterical.

"It's true, my lord. We too have seen these clouds of which he speaks." Announced one guard. King Skarl frowned and muttered, "Hm, that's strange. Illusen has never been known to cast dark magic, which makes this very strange news indeed. Right then!" he stood straight and the techo calmed down, looking hopeful. "You heard the man! Knights of Meridell, lets RIDE!!!" he yelled. The techo bowed gratefully to him and said, "Thank you, my lord." The walked out. Skarl only rolled his eyes.

Saura began to follow the knights out, waiting for Master Torak to stop her, and he did, saying, "No, Saura, stay here. You need to rest." "But I saved Cogham." Protested the yellow lupe half heartedly. "And that's enough heroics for one day." Said Torak, and he walked away. Saura sighed and slowly went into the barracks to find Grayson there, pacing. When she walked in, he jumped and started to blush, then said, "Saura! You're back!" "Dur dee dur!" said Saura, smiling to let him know that she was only joking. This made Grayson blush even more. Inwardly laughing, she took off her chain mail part of the uniform and climbed into bed.

She had a dream that night of a scary looking faerie laughing.

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**Me: I am way so sorry for the late update people! Thank you for not giving up and losing interest! I am also sorry that the chapter is so short. That may happen a bit more. And please, tell me, should Saura name her shields as well? **


	9. Illusen's Glade

Me: Behold! Chapter ten! Yay!

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Normal POV

The next morning, Saura sat up in the bed, yawning and stretching. She was pretty drowsy after all that running around and climbing yesterday, and wished dearly that she could just go back to sleep. With a sigh, she put on her squire's uniform. Then she thought, 'They don't give Tor or me actual knight's uniforms. We just keep our old squire's ones. The creators of this game didn't think too hard when making it. Eh, oh well.'

She walked into the hallway where she met Grayson, who had a very serious expression on his face. Well, more like ran into him. The two fell onto the floor, and Grayson, obviously flustered, got up and helped Saura onto her paws.

"Ah, er, sorry Sar! My bad, totally my bad! I was just thinking, you know, and you know how when you think, you aren't watching where you're going and then run into pets and then you like apologize and stuff and I'mreallyreallysorrrySarIdidn'tmeanto-" but before he could hurt himself Saura interrupted, "Dude, chill! It's all right, no harm done…….hey, how did the mission go at Illusen's go for the knights?" Though she already knew the answer, she'd decided to ask anyway as to not seem suspicious.

"Oh, they're not back yet. That's what I was thinking about so hard." He explained, the serious expression back on his face. Saura tried to look concerned, but was pretty sure that she looked constipated. "Um, I guess I'll go keep watch then. Uh, yeah, see ya later." She said, and walked away as Grayson muttered a "G'bye".

But as you people know, Saura was not going to keep watch. She headed into the entrance hallway of the castle, knowing that the old knight there. He saw her and said, "Sar, the knights are not back from Illusen's and I am concerned. Would you go there and check it out?" Saura nodded and replied, "You can count on me, sir!" The old knight was satisfied with that answer. The younger lupe was about to run off to save the knights, when she recalled leaving Coolio in the barracks. She hurried back to grab it, and almost collided with Grayson again.

"Woah, Saura! Sorry again! What's the rush?" he questioned, and the girl said, "I'm going to Illusen's to help the knights!" Grayson's jaw dropped, and Saura picked Coolio up from her bedside. She turned only to find Grayson there, desperately looking at her. "Saura, let me come along with you!"

She blinked and asked, "Er…why?" "It's dangerous to run into danger like that! There's dark faerie magic going on at that place, and you could get hurt! Plus the werelupes!" he practically squealed, because his voice had risen so high that he squeaked the word 'werelupes'. Saura stared at him, astounded. Okay, this was new. "Hey, I can deal with it! Why do you think I was made a knightess?" As soon as she'd said that, she realized that she'd made a mistake. "Ah, yeah, a knightess. Think you're all powerful now? Think you've got authority over me, now that you're a knightess? I don't know what makes you so special, after just a few days, being knighted, while I've been training for about a month!"

Alright, Saura had definitely not meant to offend him. She knew that it would be hopeless to try to explain that this was supposed to be a videogame, so what the heck was she to say to him????? She came to the conclusion that it would be best to make amends, so she said, "Grayson, I am way sorry. I was just trying to make a point was all. Forgive me?" She'd never been good at apologies and that was a little too fast, but he didn't mind. "Yeah, well, I shouldn't have lost my temper. But really, what do you say?"

The answer was obviously 'no', but Saura had a plan. A small one, but a plan nonetheless. "No." she said firmly, and as Grayson's expression became incredulous, she hugged him and squealed, "But thanks for being so concerned buddy!" Now there was something she was good at, hugging people until their ribs cracked.

She let go of him to see his face as red as at juppie, and then ran out of the room, calling back, "Goodbye!" She quickly dashed out the doors of the castle, down into the street, and onwards to Meridell Plains.

Saura's POV

I slowed down once I reached the plains. Immediately, I spotted the crokabeks flying around and made a mental note, then wondered why I was making a mental note. Crokabeks were wimpy and none of my concern, but I still wanted to fight them. A battle raged on in my head whether I should go and complete the game so I could go home and apologize to my parents sooner, or if I should defeat the crokabeks for neopoints.

While I was thinking, a little voice said on my shoulder, "Go and complete this game so you may return home." I jumped and looked to my right shoulder where a little yellow lupe in white robes, wings on its back, and a halo above its head stood. "Go," it said again, "Go and be a hero!" Then, "No!" cried a little voice on my right shoulder where another tiny yellow lupe stood, but this one was had red horns and a pitchfork, "Kill those insolent crokabeks! Show them the terror you cause! Mwuahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"I can show terror?" I asked cluelessly. The little demon me lupe gave me a 'dur de dur' look and said, "What part of 'mwuahahahahahahahahahahaha' did you not get?! Yah, go and show terror! NOW!" Then I felt really confused. "I thought I got rid of you guys when I was seven!" I accused, glancing at both of them. "Hey, you're the one who was having trouble with your conscience." Said the little angel me on my right shoulder. "Well, I've decided to get rid of the crokabeks now and show terror, okay? So just go away now. My mom says that I'm not allowed to imagine you two anymore." The angel me disappeared, but the demon me sat down, munching on popcorn that randomly appeared out of nowhere. "Oh, to heck with that, I wanna watch!" "Hey, how'd you do that?" I asked it, eyeing the bowl of popcorn. It glared at me, snapping, "Mine!", shielding its snack from my gaze. "JUST GET LOST!!!" I screamed at it, and was finally aware that I was alone, no little figures on my shoulders. But of course, the crokabeks had heard me, so I pulled out Coolio and began to fight.

When I was done and had gathered up all the neopoints, I started on the journey to the glade again. As I walked, I thought some more. And while I was thinking, I thought of how I named my swords, but not my shields. I reached for my iron shield, and examined it, finally coming up with the name 'Steelio'. Steelio and Coolio. Sweet. By then, I'd made it to the bridge that went over the narrow creek near the entrance to Illusen's Glade. I sighed at the creators of the game thoughtlessness. Why you ask? Well, how come those huge stone bridges had been knocked down by the waters when the Darkest Faerie awakened, yet these small wooden ones stayed up? I remembered exploring a lot when I'd first played the game, and coming to this area before I was supposed to and the bridge to Brightvale was broken, but not the wooden one. Sure, it was just a creek, but it still should have been knocked down.

Now, I was on the pathway to the negg shop right before entering the glade. Wow, time went by faster when you thought! I should do that more! I decided that I wanted nothing from the negg shop and that it was a waste of time, so I just went on into the forest. It was very beautiful when you were actually inside of it, instead of just seeing it on a screen. I stepped out of a shaft of sunlight to see better, and saw the werelupe prowling around a ways away. I pulled out Coolio and Steelio, and dashed at the mutated lupe. It scented me before I reached it, so it was already running at me by the time I got to it. With a snarl, it pulled back a big paw with large claws, ready to strike, but I managed to hit first. It leapt back with a yelp as I came at it with a three-point strike. This was a little tougher then the ixis and I had to hit it twice more before it exploded into money.

I heard a familiar growl-snort somewhere around and just plain began to run. I was not in the mood for more fights, plus I was ready to see Amy again. She crossed my mind when I was at the creek bridge a while back, and I needed to see a face I knew. Down the path I ran, hearing growl-snorts everywhere. I reached the bridge over the river, and looked around. The werelupes had given up, but I knew that I would have to get past more, so I inhaled, then exhaled and started again.

More growl-snorts. More running. More trees and water and path. Erg. I ran past the tree where behind it a light mote bounced, but I ignored it. I'd finally made it to the cage where Master Torak was being held, and growled. "Begone evil thing!" I shrieked as I slashed at the werelupe guarding it. I dodged a swipe at my head and aimed for the stomach, and hit right on target. Once more and the werelupe was gone. I turned to Master Torak, expecting praise for the spectacular defeat of the enemy, but what I got was different.

"WHAT was THAT?!?!" he shouted, and I flinched. "Er, my war cry…sir." I told him, and he scowled at me. "Some war cry. Just get me out of here!" I swung Coolio a the lock. I guessed that I should keep quiet about naming my weapons and shields. "Now hurry!" he commanded, "Release the other knights! I'll watch the lift." And he ran off. I swallowed, then went to the left, down the bridges to the area where all the other knights were being kept. I defeated the werelupes and freed Sir Lawrence, Cadmere, and the two others, who all had warnings about the werelupes and that I had to get to Illusen quickly. 'Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before.' I thought, running over to the lift. I crossed the bridge, avoided the werelupe, clambered up the ledges, and onto the lift.

I got into it, and signaled with a thumbs up for Master Torak to help me up to the tree houses. He grabbed the lever thing, and started to turn it, and soon enough, I was up in the tree village. Now it began.

I traveled across the bridge between the platforms, but I just had to swing on it, which I did for a second, then continued. Once or twice I tripped over a randomly placed pot in several of the rooms, and scraped the top of one of my back paws when climbing up the upward slanting bridges between platforms. I still didn't battle the werelupes, but decided to rid the place of one anyway. Heck, I got a few neopoints out of it. I made it to the last part of the tree houses, where the Werelupe King was bent over Illusen, taking her charm.

"Get away from her!" I yelled, and he looked up. "Hm? What? Oh, I don't have time to deal with Meridell scum! Gnarfas, CHEW BONES!!!" he snarled, and suddenly out of nowhere, a gigantic, red, four armed were lupe jumped down in front of me. Not to mention the chains hanging off of his huge paws. Yeah, I was scared now, but I had to let him hit me, or the old knight wouldn't come, so I stayed still as Gnarfas beat me up, the chains stinging as they slapped across my body. I was then hit so hard that I was knocked to the ground and on my back. The really mutated werelupe was about to deliver a powerful blow, when the old knight came out of thin air it seemed, and sent Gnarfas backwards with a punch to the chin. He turned to me and said, "Come. We must get out of here before-" but he was cut off by the Werelupe King stabbing him in the back.

The old knight let out a cry, and fell to the ground as the Werelupe King said, "You of all people should know never to turn your back on your enemy. Gnarfas! Quit playing with your food and kill it!" he commanded, and turned his attention back to Illusen. Gnafas was back on his paws and coming at me once more. I quickly equipped a water mote to Coolio and a fire mote to Steelio and my armor.

I ran in a circle strategically around the werelupe mutant and dodged the chains swinging at me. When Gnarfas had worn himself out, he hung his head and stayed still, allowing me to get a few hits in. I continued with that for awhile, but finally, he dropped to the ground. **(Sorry the battle wasn't to descriptive! I just think that it's better to not drag it out like I probably would. Sorry again.) **

I ran at the Werelupe King, but he'd already snatched up the charm and ran away, howling. I dashed to Illusen, ready for what was about to happen. "M'lady! M'lady, are you alright?" I said, helping her sit up. "Her power…so strong, never felt anything so strong!" she said faintly and I said, "What, m'lady?"

"She'll put all of us, ALL THE FAERIES to a black sleep from which we can never awaken. Only my charm can-" she realized her charm wasn't there, then gasped, "Oh no! She's won…she's won!...You must stop her! Go, warn King Skarl before-" but she didn't get any farther as her head twitched and her eyes glowed purple. "This land is mine!" she hissed, then swatted at me, which I backed up from and fell backwards, down to the ground.

As I fell, I passed through purple haze and landed. 'Aw, dangit.' I thought as I heard that familiar growl of the minion archers. I began to run again, wanting to get this over with. I dashed down the path, over bridges, out the glade, down the path, into the Meridell Plains, where I met more of the little demons. I screamed as I avoided a burst of red light. I ran right back into Meridell, and went down the street to the right, running by buildings as fast as my legs would allow. I finally entered the castle, and gasped as a dark knight came at me. I ran up the stairs on the right up to the second floor, where I turned into the sitting room area where I beheld the sight of another dark knight. I ran down the hallway to the left into that room with the pillars and pushed down the switch, avoiding more knights. I wondered what had happened to the regular knights I saved awhile ago.

I arrived onto the ledge that looked down into the royal court, where the Darkest Faerie sat, the Dark Faerie Sisters listening to her.

"A thousand years you say?" she drawled, "And they don't even remember me. Well, that just wont do. Conquering this fly speck of a kingdom was easy enough, but I need something a little bigger to announce my arrival. I know, I'll destroy it completely! That should get their attention! And I know just the thing to flatten the place. Two birds and one stone. Oh yes, that should do wonderfully." She said with a dark chuckle. I moved, making sure that my armor made a sound. Suddenly, an explosion rang in my ears and the floor below me crumbled, and I fell to the ground.

"She doesn't seem to be under my control," observed the Darkest Faerie, "How unusual. Kill her, but bring me the body once you are done." "Of course sister," the one called Vanity said, "It's time we had some-" "Amusement!" the one called Spite said, and they began to walk towards me. I ran in front of the door, and dodged the burst of light that destroyed it. Then I ran behind a specific pillar in the next room, which too was destroyed. It fell over and made a perfect bridge to the ledge high above us. I scrambled onto it, but was knocked off by a well aimed dark magic orb, and I heard the trio giggle evilly. Being more careful, I tried again and made it. I was on the ledge, jumped off behind the wall of fire and ran towards the doors, but fire expectedly burst up in front of me.

I hid behind another pillar, and once it was down, used it to jump over the fire to my right. I ran into the dining hall, where I avoided chairs and tables. I then placed myself in front of the window to the kitchens, and that was then destroyed. I jumped through, ran out of the smoke filled kitchens, coughing, and ran into the Storage Room.

"Over here young master!" I heard Servant Faun say, "This hole leads to the rubbish shoot! You can escape that way!" I held my breath and leaped down into the slimy slide. I heard the faerie sisters say something, then cackle, and a burst of light came down and pushed me to the bottom of the sewars. The first part of the journey was over.

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**Me: Hey everyone, guess what….ACT TWO IS NEXT!!!! YAH!!**

**Saura: Ugh, I'm exhausted. Amy, get in here!**

**Amy: Coming!**


	10. All of Act Two!

Me: ACT TWO STARTS!!!!!!!!!!!

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Okay, rewind the story a bit!

Amy's POV

I smiled at my friend, Saura, who was rejoicing over the fact that she'd beaten the Darkest Faerie game, and smirked at the TV with a look of satisfaction. The little animation came on where Tor and Roberta were standing in Faerieland, being congratulated by Fyora.

"You see how they're in the wrong clothes?" she asked me, "I mean, they're supposed to be in Altadorian clothes, but they are in the **wrong ones**!" I just stared at her in a hopeless way. She always had to say something over the tiniest mess-up.That day, they were at Saura's house, and it was the blonde playing the game. Saura giggled as the cinematic went by that showed where the Darkest Faerie was being kept on the fountain as Luke, Peter, and Claire ran around it. "It makes you wonder how they got there." Said Saura suddenly, "I mean, they don't have carriages or portals, which really makes you wonder…" I laughed, which I should mention was not like me at all, but you just gotta laugh at the girl, and replied, "Saura, it doesn't matter. They're there to see Tor and Bob be made Defenders or whatever Fyora said they were. Don't get so miffed about it." "But it's so weird!" Saura cried, "Tor and Bob go by portal, while their friends get there by who knows what! So unexplanitory!"

Suddenly, the TV made a strange noise. Static noise. ODD noise. The girls looked at the TV for a few moments. All was quiet. It was one of those moments when you could sneak up behind someone and scare them and watch them go sky high, screaming. And as they watched the TV, it started to…swirl. The swirls began to slowly turn darker shades of purple with each swirl.

Saura stared at it with wide eyes. "Dude," she said, "Dat is totally awesome. A BONUS FEATURE!!!!" I shook my head, staring at the screen as well, saying, "Uh, Saura…this cannot be a bonus feature." Right when Saura was about to give a sharp retort, a voice that was familiar to us echoed out, "You have defied me more than once! You have humiliated me and made fun of the misfortunate happenings I endure. Now, I will provide a challenge that neither of you will be able to escape! Feel my WRATH!!!!" And all of a sudden, purple beams of energy shot out from the TV screen and wrapped around Saura and I. "Saura!" I called, extending my arm to my friend. Saura looked at me and frantically tried to grab my hand, but missed. But it wouldn't have mattered anyway as we were pulled into the television.

As I had been dragged into it, I snapped my eyes shut, but when the air had stopped whipping through my light brown hair, I opened them slowly, wishing immediately that I hadn't. Black. Everything around me was a black void. I wasn't totally freaked out like Saura might be right then, but instead, slightly intrigued. I had always been the more serious of our duo, and many people wondered how a hyperactive girl, and a calm, silent girl could be buds. But we were, and that's not the point. Suddenly, something started swirling in front of me. A bunch of colors and shapes whirled around, and formed a picture, while I heard very familiar music playing from an unknown source.

The picture was one I had seen many times. It was pinkish violet in some places, maybe a bluish lavender as well. The shapes were of books, shelves, and mists, while there was wording at the top.

ACT TWO

Roberta's Story

Then the words changed to say:

ACT TWO

Amia's Story

'Amia's story?' I thought. That wasn't my name. But I thought about it, and my original name was a perfect abbreviation for Amia, so it fit. But come on! Amia?! Now ain't that creative. Before I could think of anything else, I fell into my own black void of unconsciousness.

I groaned, rousing from sleep. 'Hunh.' I thought, 'Wow, what a dream. Guess I'm still in bed, and I'm still goin' to Saura's today. But it all seemed so…real. Though I don't remember falling asleep while sitting up. Maybe I was reading. But where's my book?' That's when I opened my eyes…and oh no. I WAS NOT IN MY BED. I WAS NOT HOME.

'I've been kidnapped.' I came to the conclusion, but that soon left my mind as I looked around. Was I in a car? I looked out the window to my left, but only saw clouds, and gasped. What the heck?!

Suddenly, a voice came from my right, one that I'd heard before, "Are you alright, Amia?" I looked in that direction, and saw a purple gelert in green really decorated green robes sitting there, a concerned look on his face. I could only gape. This wasn't happening, how could it?! "Amia?" he said again, "Are you alright???" He seemed to be getting more worried, so I gathered my bearings and replied, "Uh, yeah, I mean, yes, yessir!" I stuttered, "Er…bad dream." It looked like this satisfied him and he said, "Remember those breathing exercises I taught you a year ago that calmed your mind. You can't be disheveled during the meeting with Fyora." He turned forward again and I pretended to do some complex breathing exercises.

I stopped and stared out the window to collect my thoughts. So, I actually HAD been pulled into the Darkest Faerie game. Maybe all those times of beating the game had altered the course of reality and gaming world, causing the real and fake worlds to interconnect. And of course, Saura would be in here too, but I would have to explain it in a far simpler way: We played the game too many times, and it messed up reality. I sighed and leaned against the door of the carriage. Now I was here, taking the place of my favorite character from the game. A lock of my hair fell onto my shoulder and I brushed it off, noticing that my "hand" was a pink paw of an acara. I decided that I needed to see what I looked like, and tried to see my reflection in the window. I was a blue acara with Brightvale robes on, but my hair was light brown, not black. As much as I liked my hair in the real world, I had to say that it did not mix with my now blue complexion.

The carriage landed on a platform, and I opened the door, stepping out. Everything about my looks was like Roberta, except for my hair. Seredar had come around to my side, and remembering to be like Roberta, I said, "I hate doing these things!"

"Yes, but as the king's niece, you must do your part for him and the kingdom." I patted Solarin's (the uni, for those of you who may not have known) neck and said, "I wasn't cut out to be a diplomat, Seredar…" and Solarin nodded at him.

"True, but your uncle and I are disturbed by the clouds that are over Meridell, and we must tell Fyora." He told me, and I turned to him. "Yes sir. I'll do my best." I said, trying to be convincing. He smiled at me and we began to walk towards the castle. "I know you will. While were here, maybe I can teach you some more difficult spells." He said. "Really?!" I cried, hoping not too loudly. "Just one or two," he explained, "But we must hurry and meet with Fyora."

He walked ahead of me and up to the castle, leaving me behind in the gardens. I looked around, and thought, 'Those stinkin' faeries are lucky. This place is so peaceful.' I saw the meowclops dashing around the hedges and the fountain spewing out, not water, but clouds. Well, I guessed that since clouds were made of tiny water droplets, it sort of made sense. I strolled slowly through, admiring the things I could now see up close. I made it to the steps and jogged up, then at the top, went over the bridge on the other fountains right up to Seredar, who was waiting.

A small Kacheek met us, saying, "Greetings, I am Kekou. Who might you be?" I bowed, my acara horns, or what ever those things are, were in my face for a second. "Greetings, I am Amia of Brightvale with Seredar. We are here to see Queen Fyora." I said, trying to remember what Roberta had told him. "Queen Fyora is in a meeting right now. Please feel free to explore the gardens or visit the library while you wait. I will come get you when she can meet with you." He explained.

Seredar turned to me and said, "Amia, come meet me in the library. I'll teach you some new spells." And with that, he was off. I watched him go, jumping when a paw gingerly tapped my shoulder. I turned to see the aisha peasant standing there, looking desperate. I knew that she was actually Jerdana of Altador, but ignored that fact for a second. "My dear, I don't mean to bother you, but can you help me?" she asked. "Sure." I said. "Oh, thank you, dear. Take this as thanks." She handed me a blue amulet in silver. "Please, my Harris likes climbing trees, but I can't get him down. Could you fetch him for me?" she told me. I nodded and she exclaimed, "Oh thank you! I knew you looked like a good person when I saw you! Follow me!" and she hurried off as fast as she could. I followed like she said, and she led me to the tree in the part of the gardens where the library was. "He's up there." She said, pointing up to one of the topmost branches.

I casually walked up to the building, grasped the vines that climbed up it, and hauled myself up. Once I was right above the branch, which touched the wall, I looked down. 'Wow, I'm high up' I thought, as if talking about how sunny it was. I dropped onto the branch, and began to cross it to the trunk. I didn't even stick out my arms for balance, even when I almost fell off once or twice. It was no big deal to me. I'd made it to the trunk, then, bracing myself, leapt to the one that the Harris sat. I started to slip, so I grabbed the petpet, and fell completely off. When I hit the ground, I instinctly went into a tumble.

I stood up, raising my eyebrows slightly. I wasn't hurt…cool. I walked over to Jerdana and handed her the Harris, and she squealed, "Oh thank you, dear! Come on little one, let's go home." And she strolled away, Harris in arms. I looked around, and seeing nothing interesting, I went into the library. It was more beautiful than it was on the game. A fuchsia haze floated here and there, and little sparkles fell from the ceiling. One word could describe all this. WOW.

I spotted Seredar near the chairs and tables in the sitting area, but the books all around me were too tempting. Seredar and magic could wait. I was a bookworm, and this may have been my only chance, so I sped to one of the shelves. I tried to grab a book, but it seemed like it was positively glued in, it was so packed, so I went over to another shelf. The books were leaning over, and when I pulled one out, they collapsed. I hurriedly place it back, then tried one more book. It came out easily, and nothing toppled over, so I smiled and looked at the cover. It was green, with gold bordering. The title was Important Faerie's in History by Bargen Somshenstine the Yurble.

'Hm, guess the authors put what pet they are in Neopia.' I thought, and scanned the book, satisfied that it used long words. But I had to report to Seredar, so I reluctantly returned the book to its original spot, and went over to the gelert mentor. "Ah, Amia. So, are you ready to learn the new spells?" he asked, and I nodded. "Do you have your wand?" he then asked, and I shook my head. "Well then, this is the perfect chance for you to learn how to make one. We can use natural materials, so find a wand, a magic channeler, and a magic source." He commanded, and I ran out of there to locate the things he'd listed. I first headed to the kacheek that was painting that picture of the hidden tower on the other side of the gardens and said, "Need something, sir?" "Why yes!", he confirmed, and explained, "I need to finish this painting, but I need some faerie dust. Could you get some for me?" I said yes, and he handed me a bottle, telling me to collect the stuff in it.

With the bottle in hand, I dashed back to the library side gardens, and found the statue of the faerie which had a bunch of sparkles near it. I uncorked the bottle, then swished it through the dust, and was surprised at how much of the substance went into it. I quickly slammed the cork back down on the full bottle, and ran back to the kacheek. I gave it to him, and he dabbed a thin paintbrush inside it, and brushed it across a tower on the painting. It promptly disappeared, and I pretended to be astonished. "It went away!" I said dumbly, and he nodded. "Yup. The faerie dust caused it to do that. It's supposed to be the hidden tower, which is always invisible unless you have a specific petpet with you."

I just grabbed the bottle that still had some of the faerie dust in it, and left the guy there, already getting tired of his talking. I wanted to get this over with so that I could finally use a wand. I was SO going to have fun with that thing! I ran down into the gardens past the painter and up to the tree that was there. I realized that the bottle had left my hand…er, paw, but I somehow knew that it would appear when I needed it. I walked around the tree until I found the sparkling moss, and buried my fingers into it to get hand holds. I pulled myself up and lodged my feet into it, and then climbed up. I reached a branch, and stepped onto it, seeing the stick lying on it a ways out. I carefully went and retrieved it, then looked up. Sure enough, there was a broken branch above me. So that's where this came from. It too disappeared from my paw, and I jumped down, doing that funny tumble when I hit the ground.

I started off again, to the main gardens where that fountain was. Down the stairs and I was there, turning to the left hedges, and running through them, finally finding the stone of illumination. I pocketed it, and set off towards the library.

I entered it, and went back over to Seredar, who nodded and took the three items. He took the faeriewood stick, carved the stone into a star shape, and bound it to the stick with some tape. Then he uncorked the bottle of faerie dust, and spread it over the wand. It glowed for a second, then lay still. He handed the thing to me and said, "There. Now you are going to learn how to channel the magic through your wand. Think about holding the power in, then letting it go with a forceful blast, while swishing your wand through the air."

This was a different explanation than it was on the game where it told you to press certain buttons, but this was cool. A book flew out into the open, and I thought about what Seredar had told me, then waved my wand to the left through the air, and a burst of reddish orange light flew out, striking the book. It squealed. "Good, good," complimented the mentor, "Now try to rapidly send out little bursts at the target." I looked at the book, seeing that it was a little agitated, and whipped my wand down several times, and several small orbs of magic went out and struck the book.

"Good!" cried Seredar, "Now try holding it all in for a powerful spell. Feel how it drains your magic." I held the wand out in front of me, concentrating on building up the power inside of it. Right when it felt like it couldn't go anymore, I let go of the feeling, and the book was then hit with a large blast of magic. It was true, I felt slightly drained of something from the wand after that. Seredar went into an explanation of motes and faerie types, but I just nodded and stared at him, already informed on all of it. He gave me new maroon robes as congratulations when he was done, and I took out the flying book completely, using a three-point strike, waving my wand to the left, then right, then down. That's when Kekou came through the doors, saying, "Queen Fyora is free to talk now. Go on in."

Seredar and I trudged along, back through the gardens, and up into the castle. We were led into a large throne room, and I instantly saw Fyora.

Normal POV

Amy looked to Seredar, and he nodded towards Fyora, signaling that the girl should look at the faerie queen and begin. "Queen Fyora, Lady of the Western Skies. My uncle sends his best wishes from Brightvale." She said, hoping that she got it right.

"Welcome. We also send our wishes for his health as well. Tell me, for what occasion do you owe a visit?" replied Fyora. Amy gestured for Seredar to continue, and he did, saying, "Dearest Fyora, we are happy to be here. We see the clouds that have come over Meridell. We are confused, and do not know what to do."

Fyora nodded and said, "I too have noticed these clouds, and sent word to Illusen, but she has not replied and I am concerned. The next time Faerieland passes over Meridell, I will look into the matter." Amy and Seredar bowed, the acara girl ending it by saying, "Brightvale thanks you for you support." Then the two were led out by Kekou. Seredar disappeared somewhere, leaving Amy to be shown where to go by Kekou.

At the end of the journey through the castle, Amy walked into the bedroom, hearing Kekou say something about the last pet that stayed being an excellent tipper, then running off. She rolled her eyes, then decided that the only way to progress was to sleep, which she did.

She dreamed that night. She dreamed that Fyora was looking into a mirror, when it suddenly cracked, and a hideous faerie bound her to a chair. The outside glowed purple from the mirror. The next morning, Amy remembered nothing of the dream.

Speaking of that morning, the acara climbed out of bed and walked into the hallway, forgetting what was supposed to happen. She went into Seredar's room, ready to wake him, but she saw him sitting at his potion table, swaying a little. "Seredar?" she said, and he turned to her, almost falling off the stool. It was then when she saw his eyes all red and swirly that she remembered what was going on.

"Hello, Amia! Today, we shall begin your lessons in dark magic, now that the real power has returned!" he began to laugh maniacally, and Amy heard a loud pig squeal come from behind her. She jumped to the side, just managing to dodge the huge arm and claws slashing at her. She unbalanced and fell, the minion hovering in the air next to her. She quickly leapt up and ran out of the room and down the hall, breathing hard. How she hated running. She wished she could just stare up into the sky right now, but of course, there were the minions to consider. Down many hallways she went, eventually coming to the stairs, and knew what she had to do.

She dashed to the main floor, and ran through the hallway that was down there, hearing the woman's voice crying out from behind doors, "Help!" Amy went through the door to her right, avoiding the minion warrior that suddenly appeared. She hurried through the hall to the end, where she jumped onto the table, then up onto the boxes to peer through the bar window into the room where Jerdana was chained.

The doors opened, and the Darkest Faerie stepped through, talking to herself. "My minions were right. Another has resisted my power!" she walked up to Jerdana and said, "What makes you and that young lupe so special? You look familiar, and yet…no, it's not possible. A thousand years have passed. Besides, I have so many ways of finding out where your precious defense comes from. Let's try them all, shall we?" she had stood up and magically made a cabinet like thing appear on the wall. Jerdana looked up at her with wide eyes, and Amy took that as the signal to turn the clock tower chime on.

She returned to the hallway, dashed across the main floor, all the while getting around minion archers, and finally went through the doors to the clock tower. Behind them, she rested a little, not used to this much running. She wasn't overweight, but not fit in the running department. If only she had Saura's energy. Ah, well, nothing she could do about that. She made her way down the steps, and to the ground floor.

She started off with dragging the heavy chime things to the sides of the pendulum area, then ran up the other set of stairs to actually start it. She pushed the weights onto the pulley things, and once she'd done that for all three, she hurried up to the exit. She again had to rush over to the hallway, and hid behind a desk, watching with held breath as the Darkest Faerie walked past towards the clock tower. She ran down to the chamber where Jerdana was chained, and undid the manacles.

"It's okay," she assured her, "It's me, the one who got the Harris down for you. There." Jerdana was free, and she put her paws up to her face, saying, "You truly are a hero." She swayed and slumped over, and Amy steadied her, then took her paw. "Alright, we can probably escape through one of those…er….exits-" But Jerdana yanked her paw out of Amy's hold, gasping, "No! Now that I'm out of the shackles, I can escape." She grabbed Amy's amulet, "Find this amulet's twin. With its owner you can-" the chiming stopped, and Jerdana became panicked, "You must hurry! GO!" she ordered, pushing Amy towards the door, who needed no more persuading.

She scrambled away, to the main floor, then ran up one of the sets of steps, down the hall, to the exit. She dodged the many minions, and made it to the end, but went no farther as the HUGE minion smashed into the window with a roar, blocking the way. Amy casually turned and went back the way she came, but in the main hall, ran another direction down another hallway. She turned this way and that, evading bursts of energy, past the fountain with the statue of the faerie, and through the hall that Kekou had first led her. At the end, she rammed through the doors, and closed them behind her.

Amy looked around, knowing that she was in the Endless Staircase. She slowly descended them, waiting. Then came the weird bark, and she pulled out her wand, confronting the twisted harrises. It took a few minutes, because when she concentrated on one of the dark petpets, another one snuck up behind her and bit her legs. Finally, she got rid of them, and was now pretty worn out. She put the image of the library in her mind, and concentrated.

The acara came to the first quiggle statue, which pointed down. She went down, but came to one that pointed up. She went up, and again came to the downward pointing one. She walked down, and the next statue pointed down. She followed it, then the next pointed up. She went up, then down again, down again, and she stepped onto the wooden floor at the end. She and Saura had had a rough time with that when they'd played the game at first.

She carefully opened the door, and stepped out into the library, making sure not to be sensed by the flying books. She crept out, but it swiftly changed to a run to the door. One of the books tried to bite her, but they weren't too fast, so it missed.

Outside, she met no minions, so she ran through the gardens and up the steps, thinking that she was free, but suddenly, she heard the Darkest Faerie yell out, "Stop!" but she kept running. "No one defies me!" the faerie shouted, and Amy dodged the attack. The clouds above her thickened and stormed as she ran down the stairs to the main gardens.

She ran to the platform, and yelled out for Solarin, who was being chased by two of the HUGE minions. The uni flew over and Amy stalled. Could she jump it? She would have to as minions poured from the castle windows. Amy turned to Solarin…and jumped. Air rushed past her, her arms outstretched. They hit something, and she hauled herself onto the uni, who began to fly, the HUGE minions pursuing. Suddenly, a huge gust of air blasted past, and Amy was dislodged, and fell. She held her breath as she dropped through the air, feeling her hair whip her face.

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**Me: Well, that's Act Two! I think it is the longest chapter I've written! Wow! Now we're going to rest over Christmas break. **

**Saura and Amy: -go and grab ipods-**

**Saura: ****-singing to Touchdown Turnaround-**** Little league in '93 taught me how to take defeat, good thing there's no mercy rule in love or I would long be beat!**

**Amy: ****-singing to Look At Us-**** For everyday that I should have you by my side, we'll make it, baby, look at us now!**

**Me: Uh yeah, hope everyone had a good Christmas!**


	11. They UNITE!

**Me: Saura and Amy are back in action!**

Saura's POV

"Over here young master!" I heard Servant Faun say, "This hole leads to the rubbish shoot! You can escape that way!" I held my breath and leaped down into the slimy slide. I heard the faerie sisters say something, then cackle, and a burst of light came down and pushed me to the bottom of the sewars. The first part of the journey was over. I tried to stand in the murky green water, but my legs just swept through the water, finding nothing to brace on. And then it all started going black, and I knew that I was entering Act Three of the game. I closed my eyes, and soon enough the music started up. Upon opening my eyes again, I saw swirls of yellowish green, and brown coming together to form a picture of one of the tree houses in Illusen's Glade. White words appeared on it, saying,

ACT THREE

Heroes Unite

I floated in the black void for a second, and looked around. To my left was inky blackness, to my right was…a blue acara with light brown hair, and I instantly knew who it was.

"Amy!" I shouted.

Amy's POV

I ran to the platform, and yelled out for Solarin, who was being chased by two of the HUGE minions. The uni flew over and I stalled. Could I jump it? I would have to as minions poured from the castle windows. I turned to Solarin…and jumped. Air rushed past me, my arms outstretched. They hit something, and I hauled myself onto the uni, who began to fly, the HUGE minions pursuing. Suddenly, a huge gust of air blasted past, and I was dislodged, and fell. I held my breath as I dropped through the air, feeling my hair whip my face. Then, the purple skies faded to black, and I figured that it was about time for the Third Act to be starting. Sure enough, I was turned right side up and watched as greens, yellows, and browns mixed to make a picture of one of the tree houses in Illusen's Glade. The white letters came forward, spelling out,

ACT THREE

Heroes Unite

Suddenly, I heard a yell to my left.

"Amy!"

Normal POV

The acara girl looked to her left, and there was her hyperactive friend, jerking around a swinging her arms in every which way, trying to "swim" over to her best friend. Amy watched in amusement for a second, before mercifully saying, "Saura, I don't think that's going to work. Just wait until Act Three starts up."

Saura stopped flailing around and gazed at her, mouth slightly open. "Amy! Oh my garnett, you're an acara!" she screamed in awe, even though she had guessed that this had happened. Amy sighed and nodded, noting that she should tell Saura to stop stealing phrases from Youtube videos. The makers were bound to run after her any second.

"Yes, and you're a lupe, Ms. Obvious. Now, wait until the Act starts before talking again. We'll have plenty of time to chat then." She said, and outstretched her arms, waiting as light surrounded her and her friend.

Saura was suddenly submerged in water, and the poor girl was scared to death, trying to figure out what had just happened. She swam to the surface, spotted the shore, and started to paddle toward it. That's when she heard a rustle, then a dull 'thud' of something hitting the sand. The lupe girl quickly got to her feet, seeing that Amy had landed in the plants like Roberta had in the game, except without the screaming. In fact, she simply got up, dusting off her arms, as if the fall had been nothing but throwing a baseball to a five year old.

Saura finally couldn't hold her delight at seeing her friend in anymore, and zipped over to her, hugging her like no tomorrow. "Amy!", she shrieked, "Buddy, I have so much to tell you and you probably have so much to tell me, isn'thisawesome, omigosh, I'msodarnedhappy!"

Amy could barely make sense of what Saura had just said, and managed to get out of the rib breaking hug in time to notice the purple clouds drifting from the skies to the two girls. "Uh, Saura," she said, "I know that I said we'd be able to talk, but do you remember what happens next in the game after Tor and Roberta meet?" The blonde nodded vigorously, saying, "Yeah, it gets all purple and the minions come down and…oh." She broke off as a big, fat minion suddenly appeared behind her. Her brunette companion was also occupied with her own minion enemies, glaring at the two minion archers that had appeared as well.

She ran at them, swinging her wand in arcs, letting go of fierce bursts of energy, dodging their own attacks too. Saura was fighting the minion brute, but was not faring as okay as Amy. The first thing she'd done was leap into the air at the minion, Coolio held high above her head, ready to come down devastatingly onto the minion's own noggin. But right as she was about to bring the weapon down, something crushingly grabbed her around the middle, and she was suddenly soaring through the air towards the water. She landed in it, a little stunned by the sudden flight lesson and impact of the water against her back. She lifted her head a little, only to see the minion looming over her, its ugly face twisted into a snarl. Then, the expression turned to that of surprise, and the minion brute began to lean forward, and right as Saura thought it was going to fall on and squash her, it disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke. There stood Amy, a small smile on her face, her wand, glowing, clutched in her paw.

"I thought you needed help." She said, putting the wand into her belt, and extending her paw to the lupess, who gratefully took it. Saura was, needless to say, a little embarrassed at not being able to defeat the minion herself, but knew that Amy would understand. "So…guess we're off to Brightvale now, ne?" she declared with a smile, and the acara smiled too, and nodded, then said, "As we go along, how 'bout we tell each other about our adventures? What was it like to fight Gnarfas in real life?"

Saura practically exploded in telling Amy ALL about Meri Acres, Meridell, the sewers, Cogham, and Illusen's Glade as the two made their way to Brightvale. They had already arrived at the Crossroads when she was done with her tale, and Amy began to tell hers, but it was a little delayed due to the face that minions popped up here and there. She told Saura about waking up in the carriage, talking to Seredar, the gardens, the library, the castle, the castle again, saving Jerdana and everything to do with Faerieland. She also had to explain what the carriage looked like from the inside, since Saura wanted to know absolutely EVERYTHING.

By that time, they'd made it to the pathway that led down to the wall surrounding the kingdom of Brightvale, and another topic came into Amy's mind. "So," she said, "How do we tell our family and friends about our absence?" Saura's stomach squeezed into the tight knot like it always did when she was nervous, or knew that she was busted when doing something she wasn't supposed to. ahem, cookies before supper, ahem

"Erm, yeah, I thought about that too, and you know what the funny thing is?...I have no answer yet." She moaned, lowering her eyes to the road, not wanting to even imagine what her parents would ground her from. Amy kept her eyes in front of her, her mind also going through what her parents would do. Probably yell at her as her little brother, Kevin, watched from their legs. She sighed, thinking of Kevin, wondering how the six year old was doing. He was the perfect little brother, never bothering her unless she had a cookie in her hands, always wanting to learn from her, always watching when she played videogames, and letting out small yells of delight when she did what she was supposed to, groaning when she died.

The girls dwelled on the thoughts, going through the Brightvale gates when they were opened, but once they had taken just a few steps, something else forced itself into their minds. They stopped on the street as the image of the Darkest Faerie in a room of Fyora's castle entered their heads. The dark faerie was looking into her scepter thing as Saura and Amy walked into Brightvale, and she said, "They must be dealt with!"

She hit the end of the scepter on the floor, and the minion that had been floating beside her disappeared, and now a tall grey gelert stood there, a buzz held in his paw. It screeched and gurgled as he turned to the faerie, grinning. "Ah, another customer. What can I do for you?" He asked. She inclined the scepter towards him and said, "Get rid of these two." The gelert nodded, and replied, "My prices are quite high." The Darkest Faerie waved her hand, and suddenly, and pile of golden neopoints scattered on the ground in front of him. He stepped back, his face alight with glee, "Ah yes. I will deal with them as soon as possible." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, the buzz still screaming.

Back with the girls in Brightvale, they came to their senses and stood there for a minute, when Saura piped up, "What just happened?"

"Dunno," said Amy, "But since this is like the game, the Darkest Faerie must have just appointed…him…to come and…kill…us." She gazed up into the sky, a dreamy look on her face. Saura raised one eyebrow, knowing what her friend was thinking. She grabbed Amy's wrist and pulled her along, saying, "Yes, yes, well, let's go to the castle and proceed, ya know, with the plot."

Amy was a little frustrated at not being allowed to continue in her thoughts, but went along anyway. The two rushed through the town, eventually coming up to the castle, which they busted through the doors and raced to the throne room. They let the guards open the doors, and went inside. They immediately saw King Hagan sitting on the big chair at the end of the room, and as they entered, his face lit up. "Aaaaah, Amia! I didn't see Solarin arrive. What's the news from Faerieland? Good news I hope." He said.

Amy tried not to acknowledge Saura as the lupess smirked slightly at the name Amia, and explained, "No uncle, Faerieland has fallen to the dark clouds as well." The king's face fell considerably, and he declared, "What?! Fyora was our only hope. We must get Seredar on this right away!" At this point, both girls had forgotten who was supposed to speak now, but Amy thought fast and said, "It's no good. He has fallen as well."

"The clouds change neopets, sir," continued Saura, "Your sorcerer has become one of them too." King Hagan heaved a great sigh and said, "Then, there is no hope. My advisors say the clouds will be upon us in three days." He held up three fingers to emphasize what he was telling them. That's when Amy cut in with, "We can go against it, my friend and I!" she gestured to Saura, who nodded. "What? But you are a diplomat, Amy. Perhaps we could get another knight to go along with your friend." The king said, but Amy retorted, "I never wanted to be a diplomat! I'm a sorceress!"

"To be fair, sire, I've seen her use her wand and she's quite good." Added Saura. King Hagan sighed again. "Then it seems I have little choice in the matter. You two are now defenders of the realm, obliged to defeat this darkness! And dear," he turned his attention to Saura, who said, "Yes, sire?" "Take good care of her." He finished, and let them leave.

Saura was bombarded with questions on how she, a girl, had become a knight, but after a sharp word from Amy, she was left alone. "Well, should we go to the library?" asked the lupess, "I mean, we already know what we're gonna find there, so what's the point?" Amy thought about it, then said, "Let's go anyway. We don't want to mess anything up…..I'll look at the books, you stay on the ground." She included, seeing Saura's face fall. So they headed to the library, and Amy jumped from bookcase to bookcase as her friend dozed off in a chair. Once she was finally done, she ran back over to Saura, waking her up and saying, "Yeah, the Darkest Faerie was banished from Altador a long time ago, now we have to find Fyora's wand to defeat her, which is, by the way, under Meridell castle. Got all that?"

Saura grinned and did a thumbs up. "You betcha!" Then her face became serious. "So….Amia, hunh?" They walked out of the castle and through the town, Amy explaining how her name came to be, and they didn't notice as they went right back out the gates onto the path until smoke came out of the ground, a figure appearing before them.

He laughed evilly, and said, "Tell you what. Hand over the amulets, and I'll make your deaths…painless." The girls froze, Saura out of surprise, Amy out of…something else. Saura looked back at Amy, who stood there unmovingly, staring at the advancing foe. Well, the acara was going to be of no use, so Saura raised Coolio, about to begin battle, when pigs began to fly. What, you don't know what I mean? Let me explain then.

Amy let out a shrill squeal and zoomed past Saura towards the Gelert Assassin. "I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!" she cried, and her friend stayed back, her eyes huge. She knew that Amy had a crush on the assassin, but now she wasn't so sure it was a crush. It was full out love…or something close to that.

It was apparent that the Gelert Assassin had never dealt with this kind of prey before, and was dumbfounded as the acara crashed into him, hugging him with all her might. "Get…off…me!!" He growled, prying her off and throwing her onto the ground. He pulled out his blade, ready to strike the still swooning girl when a shout rang out, "Hey! That's the king's niece! She's being attacked!" and the guards who'd been standing at the gates started to charge at him.

"Hmm, it seems fate has granted you a reprieve. No matter. I'll come back later." And he vanished in a puff of smoke once more, and right in time as Amy landed on the patch of path where he'd once been.

"H-hey, where'd he go?" she asked, getting to her feet. Then she froze. "D-did I just….try to glomp….someone?" she said, and Saura put a paw onto her shoulder, replying, "Yeah. Good job. I can die happy, knowing that I saw Amy, this Amy, try to hug someone. And heck, he was even fictional. I'm proud of you."

After talking with the guards, the girls finally started once more on their journey, Saura humming, Amy still thinking of her beloved assassin.

**Me: So, what did you people think about Amy's first freak out over something? Amazing, ne?**

**Amy: -brooding in a corner- I don't know what to be more depressed about. That my dear assassin disappeared, or that I have humiliated myself. It's just…just….he's so awesome!**

**Saura: Yeah….-sweatdrop-…you keep thinking that. Anyway, be patient! The next chapter is being prepared! **


	12. Bogshot swamps!

--

**Me: School's almost out! YAY!!**

--

**Amy's POV**

It did not take long for Saura and I to get right back on the road on to Bogshot Swamp after our little interruption. Alright, I admit, the "interruption" was actually not so bothersome for me, but I still shiver about it. How in the heck did I fall in love with a FICIONAL VIDEOGAME CHARACTER? But then again, Saura was always falling head over heels with book, videogame, tv show, etc. characters, so maybe it wasn't impossible.

But I still regretted it as she made a speech on it while we traveled down the Brightvale road to the swamps. "So you see Amy, love is a flexible emotion which causes strange feelings in even the most cold hearted person. It does not matter whether the subject of love be real or not, our minds just find themselves adoring anyone or anything that appeals to us in such a way that we cannot resist loving them. And-"

"Saura," I said. "Si?" she answered. "Enough, I know. I fell in love with a fictional character. But please…silence is golden." I told her. She merely looked at me as if I were the weird one, but didn't talk anymore though. We ran through the crossroads, not really wanting to deal with any minions, and Saura only just managed not to slam into one. Once we were safe near the plateaus, we stopped running, but kept up a quick pace. I held my wand out, just to be safe, and advised Saura to keep her sword and shield out as well.

"Hey, did I tell you?!" she asked, "I name my swords and shields!" she grinned at me insanely.

I gave her a dumbfounded look and she explained "You see, I name them on how the look or feel, so this Knight's Sword is Coolio, 'cause he looks cool, and this Iron Shield is Steelio, 'cause he's steely-ish."

"But he's and IRON shield, not steel." I pointed out and her face fell, then she glared at me.

"Whatever, Amy."

"I'm just sayin'. And how do you even know if they're guy or girl?"

"…"

"Saura?..."

"I dunno, stop asking me such hard questions!"

I didn't notice as it got darker around us as I retorted, "I'm not asking hard questions. YOU just don't know the answers to them." She scowled at me and she was going to say something back, when she suddenly fell. I gasped, and looked around, trying to see where she'd gone, then realized we were on the edge of Bogshot Swamps, at the ledges with the ladders that lead down into the swamps.

**Saura's POV**

-SQUELCH-

I landed in something muddy, but still managed one of those little tumble things, and was unhurt…but I sure smelled nasty. "Okay, not cool!" I squealed, wiping the mud off of me and out of my hair. Even if it was tied back with the rope, it had not escaped the mucky mess. Amy landed a few feet away from me on dry land, and I frowned at her. "You coulda warned me or something." I remarked bitterly.

"Yeah, but I didn't notice."

"Like you didn't notice that your wand is still made out of wood and you're gonna have a harder time defeating minions without the one in the chest in Roberta's room in the castle in Brightvale?" I took in a deep breath, and almost fell over.

"Did you get the golden rose for Prince Tourin?" asked Amy.

"Yeah…" I said, confused. What does that have to do with anything?

"Why didn't you give it to Princess Donna?"

"…"

"Saura?..."

"You know what? QUIT TALKIN' TO ME!" I snapped, and Amy rolled her eyes, muttering something that sounded along the lines of 'Typical'. I got off my knees and kept wiping away the gunk on my body as I stepped out of the pool of green water. "So…Bogshot." I said. "Looks like." Replied Amy.

When we arrived at the edge of the small village, I noticed the purple grarrl dragging his feet that always stood at the entrance in the game. Rushing over to him, I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to me with a particularly frustrated look on his face and barked, "What do you want?"

I was about to say something, when I looked into his eyes and was quickly mesmerized by the waves of red swirling in them. After a few seconds had passed, the sickly grarrl lost his patience and growled, "What, girl, WHAT in Neopia do you WANT?!" I jumped, snapping out of the hypnotism, and asked, "How do you feel?" I supposed that this was the only time to find out what neopets felt like when sick, so I took advantage. "What sickness exactly do you have, sir?"

**Normal POV**

While Saura interrogated the unfortunate grarrl, Amy quietly slipped away to the apothecary as to not lose time in saving Bogshot. She entered the center of the village, and with a hint of disdain, took in the less-than-perfect sights. Who in the right minds would have built a village in a place like this?! Bugs everywhere, swamp water, tentacles and slorgs, swamp crokabeks, diseases! But then she remembered that this was supposed to be a videogame, and the Neopets Staff Team had created it, though she couldn't help but wonder if they ever thought of what made sense. Then again, it WAS a videogame, and videogame landscapes were made to entertain, not make sense.

Enough of that, it was time to get down to business. Amy viciously swatted a bug away, then marched into the apothecary, and was greeted by moans and groans, and the gross smell of who-knows-what, while a stressed-looking lupe busied himself to the extreme, taking care of the sick pets. The door made a creaking noise as Amy went in, and the lupe turned to the door, a look of panic on his face, and said, "Don't tell me, more sick pets?!" But when he saw Amy, healthy and on her feet, relief spread across his face, and he continued treating the sick.

Amy walked up to him, and asked, "Sir, need help? Perhaps you need a remedy, or maybe, perhaps, ingredients for a medicine of some sort?" The apothecary owner wheeled around so fast, the acara girl knew that it had to have made him dizzy.

"What do you know of it? How could you guess?!" He snarled, the stress apparently taking its toll on his manners. "Well, it's not too hard to see that you don't have the medicine to heal these pets, and if you had the ingredients, you'd be making it right now, am I right?" Amy remarked. The lupe sighed and rubbed his forehead in a sort of exasperated way. "Yes, miss, your right. We need a special kind of medicine, but have absolutely no ingredients!" Amy pretended to ponder this, then tilted her head slightly and asked, "Maybe me and my friend can go fetch said ingredients for you?" The lupe suddenly looked up, red, swirly eyes wide. "Oh, no, miss! The ingredients needed for the medicine are located deep in the Bogshot swamps, and those swamps are dangerous for pets who have not been born here! You cannot!" That's when Amy clarified how persistent she was, "Sir, I have recently escaped a maniacal faerie, fallen off a uni from a few miles in the sky, and have battled little demonic minions with my crazy friend. We can handle a swamp." The lupe was gazing at her as if she too needed to rest in the apothecary, but didn't seem to have the willpower to tell her no. Finally, he gave up, rubbing his forehead once more and saying, "Alright, miss, if you say so. But don't say I didn't warn you!"

Amy stepped out of the apothecary feeling quite proud of herself. She noticed Saura coming into the town soaking wet and spewing swamp water everywhere. Some flew into the bonfire, and it hissed on contact. The acara girl frowned slightly at Saura. "Er…" she more or less inquired. Saura blinked slowly and answered, "I think I shouldn't ask these people questions anymore. They don't take it very well." Amy gave her and amused smirk and announced, "I just talked to the lupe guy. Let's go find those berries." Saura gave her a mildly surprised look, but nodded and grinned, ready to start their adventure in the swamps.

So they crossed the bridge at the back of the village, and headed into the swamps, hearing all sorts of strange noises all around them. Several more bridges were crossed as the vast bog stretched out upon the girls' approach. Once back on a little terrace, Saura walked over to the rock wall of the swamp and slid a finger down it, then examined it. "These rocks are covered in slime! Ew!" she shrieked. Amy raised an eyebrow, and questioned, "Why did you even touch it at all?" Saura sheepishly explained, "Well, this probably may be the only time I get to touch anything in this world!"

Her acara friend sighed and asked, "You're always saying that! The only time you'll get to do this, the only time you'll get to do that…" she paused, then said, "You're right. Never mind then, carry on." Saura smiled triumphantly and followed Amy farther into the swamps.

Besides Saura being scared out of her wits by a tentacle randomly popping up out of shallow water on a terrace, the walk was uneventful until they reached the lily pads. "Saura, be ready for the minions." Amy warned her friend as the lupe girl leaped onto the first lily pad. "Oh, quit worrying, I know, and I wont be surprised!" she cried, jumping to the next lily pad and promptly falling off. But of course, knowing her luck, she'd gotten close enough to the temple like structure to set off the minions, and as she appeared back on dry land, the ugly, flying pigs-with-wings began to fly at them. Amy thought it was best to run and get to Kasstraliss faster, **(for those of you who may not know, that's what** **the swamp snake is called. If you read the books in the game, you'll find him somewhere)**, so she went right on past the minions, crossing the lily pads and arriving at the temple structure.

Saura stayed back to fight to make sure Amy didn't have any distractions reaching the white bogberries, and screeched, "Begone evil thing! Or things!" while attacking the minions. She finished them off after a few attempts at jumping into the air, then slashing downwards and all that, and saw Amy come back at the temple structure.

**Saura's POV**

I saw Amy come back to the temple structure, and noticed the green minion archer close on her tail. I ran across the lilies as quickly as I could so I would be able to help her, but she'd already defeated it before I'd reached the structure. My friend gathered up the neopoints that fell to earth, and I thought as she did this. "Hey, Amy?" I said.

"Yeah, Saura?" she responded, still picking up the shiny coins.

"We should do that more often." I told her.

"Do what?"

"Split up and tag team it!"

"Hunh?"

I gave an exasperated sigh and explained, "While one of us does one thing, the other takes care of the other stuff!" Again, Amy calmly looked confused, so I defined what I'd meant. "Like just now, I beat the minions, and you went off and got the berries! While one does one thing, the other does the other! Except, lets think who's better equipped for each job, 'cause it's hard to get rid of those winged minions with a sword."

Finally, Amy's eyes widened and she gave me a quick smile. "Yeah, you're right. Good idea, Saura." Happy, we set off. Okay, we'd only gone a few steps past the temple structure when we heard a deep voice say, "You know…the thing about these sludgies is," and suddenly, the baggusses around us flashed orange, the voice finishing its sentence, "-they just can't get enough baggusses!"

Amy let out a sudden cry, and flew at the rock wall to where her beloved assassin was standing, but he vanished before she reached him. Now she was dazed, trying to steady herself, and to add to that, the once oblivious sludgies became aware of our presences. I grabbed Amy's arm, dragging her away as fast as our feet could carry us, which was pretty slow due to how dizzy she was. All of a sudden, Amy's arm was leaden and unmoving in my grip, and I looked back to see her all blue, a mist pouring out of nowhere around her body, and a sludgie about to strike her. I drew Coolio, ready to fight the mass of mud away, but then I too froze. I waited for the blow, but it never came.

I unfroze, and looked around to see Amy standing next to me, and next thing I know, she's heaving me through the mud. I realized she was trying to get me away from our foes, so I cleared my head, and got to my feet, and ran with her.

Apparently, when the sludgie had hit her, she was no longer dazed, and awake enough to save me from my sludgie. 'That had to be hard,' I thought, 'Her wand is still wooden, and probably not very strong.' "Thanks, buddy! Ya saved me!" I said gratefully, patting her on the back once we'd made it to the bridge that led towards the cave and huge broken pillars.

"Eh, no prob." She replied, and smirked, and said, "Come on, Saura, save me for once." I fumed at this, and indignantly told her, "Excuse me?! I saved your butt back there by dragging you away from those piles o' sludge!" She rolled her eyes.

"And dragged me towards another sludgie which froze me and harmed me. Oh yeah, thanks a whole bunch for…saving me."

I thought about this, then retorted, "Yeah, well, it woke you up, correct me if I'm wrong." Amy just shrugged and said, "Fine, you did do some good. But only a little."

We jumped onto the pillars and soon found ourselves at the area where the path split, the way to the left going to the red bogberries, the one going to the right heading to the black bogberries and Kasstraliss.

"Hey, Saura." Amy said.

"Eh?"

"How about we split up again? Since you're the one with the sword, you go on and take Kasstraliss, and grab the black bogberries, and I'll go get the red ones, then watch you battle the big snake."

I grinned, realizing how much of a great idea this was, and then gave Amy a thumbs up and racing down the path to the right while she ran down the one to the left. I came up to another temple structure, this one more intricate, and jumped across the wooden platforms and to the battle area.

I saw the telltale gleam of the black bogberries in the middle of the ring of stone and shallow water. On the last wooden platform, I applied a Sun mote to Coolio and a Shadow mote to Steelio and my armor. I leapt to the shallow water, and immediately after, Kasstraliss exploded out of the deeper water outside the ring. He went back under and I climbed onto one of those stone platforms in the ring of shallow water. Kasstraliss again came up, but I quickly jumped to the next block of stone, and avoided him.

This time, I waited, and he surfaced to my right. I turned and saw his green mouth open, and knew he was about to strike. I put up Steelio, and closed my eyes, waiting for impact. It came, and I put down Steelio to see Kasstraliss dazed and lying in the shallow water. I took advantage, raising Coolio and bringing it down onto the large snake's head. It instantly reeled back up, then sank under the deep water once more. This was going to take a little while.

**Amy's POV**

I had just grabbed the red bogberries when I heard a loud screech that almost sounded mechanical. 'That must be Kasstraliss smashing the stone things.' I thought, and wondered how Saura was doing. She had definitely hit him two times, thus the noise. I took my time making my way to the arena, knowing that Saura would have to repeat that wait-jump-hit technique a few more times. As I went on, I heard the mechanical screech again, and decided that Saura was doing just fine.

I arrived in the large temple structure to see Saura standing on a stone, waiting for Kasstraliss. I jumped to the last wooden platform to watch. The snake monster surfaced behind Saura, and before she turned around completely, blue circles came out of his eyes, and my friend was frozen. Kasstraliss reared back, and struck her, and I cried out, "No, you beast!" I then realized I had made a mistake in making any sound at all as he faced me. 'Oops…' I thought, and he sunk beneath the water.

I was about to jump back to the temple when the snake destroyed the next wooden platform by coming out of the water in front of me. I did the only thing that came to my mind, and put a light mote on my wand, then a dark mote on my force field-shield. Kasstraliss reared back, opening his mouth, and I held my wand in front of me, then he attempted to strike me, but hit my force field.

As soon as he began to sink down, I let out energy in my wand, and hit him with a blast of light powered magic.

**Normal POV **

"NO! Come back, you brute!" Saura cried out as Kasstraliss went after Amy, and watched as her friend put motes on her weapon, then proceeded to defeat him by hitting him with the last hit needed.

The boss raised its head like normal, but this time, coughing up green, poisonous mists and tossing his head around. He tried flapping his tiny wings, as if it would help, but eventually he gave up, and fell, the lower half of his body forming a sort of bridge between Amy's platform and the next undamaged one, his upper half forming a bridge where he'd obliterated the first one.

Saura jumped off the stone, and grabbed the black bogberries, and joined the acara as the sky began to clear. "Well, looks like we defeated the first dark boss." Announced the lupe girl proudly, and Amy couldn't help but agree.

The two made their way back to Bogshot Village, and headed into the apothecary, handing over the berries. The lupe owner was ecstatic, amazed that the girls had lived through the swamps, and then started to prepare the medicine. Outside, the two saw that the green aisha lady was already healthy once again, happily walking about.

Saura squeaked when she saw the grarrl from before approaching her, and Amy went into the Brendel and Sons building to confront Brendel about fixing the Brightvale bridge. She exited to hear the grarrl say, "And that's how it feels to be sick. I'm surprised you don't know, missy." Saura sheepishly grinned and shrugged, thanking him for telling her.

"So," said Amy, "Off to Meridell. Or should I say off to the Werelupe Woods, then Cogham, then Meri Acres Farm, then Market Town, THEN Meridell?"

Saura laughed and said, "Yeah, pretty much!" and the two friends left Bogshot.

--

**Me: Ah yes, another chapter! Bogshot!**

**Saura: Yup, we beat that silly snake! HA!**

**Amy: Go us.**

**Me: I apologize for the wait, and hope you all like this chapter. I remind you, reviewers, feel free to give any constructive criticism! Anonymous reviews definitely accepted. **


	13. Onto the Werelupe Woods

Me: MEEP

**Me: MEEP!!**

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**Normal POV**

As the two girls exited the swamps, Amy remembered that the stronger Training wand was back in a chest in Roberta's room in Brightvale, so before running off to the Werelupe Woods, she decided to fetch it. Saura asked if she could also take the golden rose back to Princess Donna, and Amy agreed. So carrying the rose, she ran as fast as she could back to Brightvale while Saura waited near a tree at the Crossroads.

**Amy's POV**

Can I confess something? I am WAY out of shape. I had started running at the Crossroads, and ran out of energy when I crossed the river as I headed into Brightvale. I finally had to stop and walk at a slow pace down the path to catch my breath, chest heaving, and ,oh, how I longed to have Saura's practically endless energy and hyperactivity, if only for just five minutes! But I had to settle for plain old me, and made my way into the kingdom.

It was about a seven minute journey, but it seemed like five hours to me, strolling through the cobblestone pathways and brick buildings to the castle. Eventually, not really knowing how I'd made it, I was inside, and going up the stairs to hand over the rose and grab the wand. I chose to get the wand first, and noticed that my old, rickety wooden wand mysteriously vanished as I took hold of this new one.

Stowing it away in my belt, I crossed the hallway to Princess Donna's room, took out the golden rose, and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to me with a slightly startled expression, and I held out the rose, no need to say anything. The pink acara's eyes instantly lit up, and she whipped the metal flower out of my own acara paw faster than you can say 'cookie'. She squealed with delight, jumping up and down in joy. I backed away a little. Apparently, the videogame world is more realistic than what the creators make.

"Oh, thank you-"

"Yeah, yeah," I said, not really wanting to hear it, "Need me to deliver anything to him?"

Satisfied, I walked out and headed back to Saura who was still waiting at the Crossroads near the sign that said, 'To Meridell', with Love Letters from Princess Donna in tow.

"Finally!" she cried, "You took forever!" I just rolled my eyes and we both were on our way to the Werelupe Woods.

**Normal POV**

The two arrived at the entrance to the woods, when Saura began thinking about the details of the videogame. "Hey, Amy." She said, and her friend turned to face her, "Shouldn't we, like, go along with the game? I mean, we should run over to Meridell, like if it was our first time playing the game, and pretend to figure everything out as we go."

Amy blinked. "So," she said, "You're saying that we act as if we never played the game before, and like noobs, go to Meridell to 'defeat' the Darkest Faerie, only to realize that we have to free each and every area under the dark influence, just like in the game?" Saura grinned and nodded vigorously. Amy rolled her eyes. "Nah, it's easier this way." the acara girl said as she turned to venture into the woods.

"Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut Amyyyyyyyyyyy!" whined Saura, "That would mess everything uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuppp!" Amy sighed at the lupess.

"It never messed anything up before." She remarked, but Saura was _not_ going to be discouraged. "But Amy, this could be our only chance to see it in 'real life'!" she made quote marks with her lupe fingers when saying 'real life'. "And besides, if we go to Meridell first, you'll be able to see your dear assassin."

Amy stopped walking, and maybe even breathing, for a second. Of course, how could she forget that if they went on the pathway to Meridell, they'd run into the Gelert Assassin! Sighing, and maybe with an annoyed twitch of the eye, she gave in. Anything for her beloved.

So they raced onward to Meridell, occasionally having to dodge a minion or two, especially when they came to the Meridell Plains where all sorts of minions popped out at them.

Eventually, they made it, barely, to the forcefield-like cloud of darkness that blocked their way to Meridell.

"How do we get past this?" Saura dutifully asked, and the two were not at all surprised as they heard the Gelert Assassin's voice behind them.

"You don't."

They turned to see him standing just a little ways off, grinning bemusedly at the pair, and continuing, "This is dark faerie magic-"

He was cut off from his little speech by a ball of blue and brown fur as Amy tackled him to the ground. The Assassin was taken by surprise, yet quickly recovered, throwing the raving fangirl, or fanacara, off his torso, and aiming his dagger at her, while she obliviously stared at him.

Saura drew out Coolio and as fast as she could, blocked him from harming her friend.

"Leave her alone! Can't you see that she's in love with you?!" Saura shouted at him.

The Gelert Assassin glared ferociously at her, and Saura knew she'd messed up what he was supposed to say, but didn't care as he retorted, "I have no use for love anymore! You keep your friend away from me! She's unworthy to be my prey!"

This earned a cry from Amy, and Saura put all her strength into a shove, making the Assassin stumble back.

"Urgh, you two are the most bothersome prey I've ever pursued! No matter, soon you will both be dead and out of my life." He spat, before simply disappearing once more.

Saura turned to Amy to see the acara girl shaking her head. She then looked up at Saura and commanded, "If I ever try that again, stop me." Saura really didn't want to, as she was quite amused by her friend's antics, but agreed nonetheless…with fingers crossed behind her back of course!

Now that they'd visited the barrier, it was off to free the land of the awakened monsters!

After a few moments of planning and thinking, they decided on a certain route to take. First, Werelupe Woods to grab Illusen's charm. Then run to Meri Acres to free the land and get the…..rope-pulley thingy. (**Authoress obviously doesn't know or remember** **what it's called…**) Then on to Cogham for the cloak, then to Illusen's for the orb that would let them through the dark forcefield that blocked their way to Meridell. Finally, they'd free Market Town, and then Meridell, then Faerieland!

It was time to put the plan into action.

The journey to the Werelupe Woods was the same, uneventful except for the occasional minion attack, but the duo mostly just ran past the things instead of fighting them for the sake of saving time.

Amy led the way into the caverns that surrounded the pathway into the Woods, Saura following closely behind, climbing the ladder and up the incline.

When they arrived at the top of the incline, at the entrance to the Woods, they first looked around to be safer than sorry.

The air was musty, clammy, none too pleasant, and distant squelching noises were heard, the girls guessing from the sludgies in the swamp waters. The grass underfoot was damp and made no sound as the pair trudged deeper into the mist and trees. Suddenly, there was a quick snarling from the left, and both whirled around to see a werelupe bounding towards them. Since a sword was easier to pull out than a wand, Saura got dibs on defeating the creature. Once that was said and done, they continued on their way.

They skirted around the trees, and were able to see lights shining dimly a ways away from them. Sophie the Swamp Witch's hut. Avoiding/defeating a few poison spyders and using a few bagguses, Amy and Saura eventually made it to the small cabin, approaching cautiously as both knew of Sophie's reputation. Definitely not to be messed with. The door opened with a scrape and a creak, and they entered the hut.

Sophie, whose back was to them as she leaned over a cauldron of who knows what, spun around to face them, slightly scowling.

"Whaddya two girlies want from me?" she growled, "I'm sorta busy here!"

Amy, being the more mature of the two, stepped forward to answer, "We wanted to know how to get into the Werelupe King's lair."

Sophie turned her body all the way to fully face the acaress, smirking at her. "Foolish girls, can't you guess what happened to all the others who said that? Got eaten, they did. Come on, be smart and run along home and leave me alone." She made a shooing gesture with her hands, but Amy stood her ground.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," she said, "But we're not leaving. Tell us what you want, but we like to see ourselves as courageous. We won't be so unlucky."

Sophie laughed a bitter, disbelieving laugh. Or more like scoff. "There is a difference between foolishness and bravery you know. And do you know how many said the same thing? 'I can do it, I'm strong' or 'Don't worry about me, I'm a lucky one'. Heh, ate their words, didn't they?"

Amy was about to retort, when Saura piped up, "We'll leave you alone if you just tell us." This seemed to appeal to the ixi witch, who raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Alright, I'll tell you what. Do something for me first, and I'll give you the information." Saura grinned braggingly at Amy, and the girls looked expectantly at Sophie when she added all of a sudden, "But why don't you prove yourself? Acara, stay here. Let your lupe friend go get me some wartroot by herself. It ain't that hard, one can do it."

Amy frowned, and Saura leaned over to her and whispered, "Don't worry, we've done it in the videogames before, and we could only play as one pet then, so this won't be much different."

But Amy whispered back, "That's not what I'm worried about, it's you. Are you sure you can handle it on your own?"

At this, Saura huffed and stormed out, offended at her friend's words and newly eager to prove herself, leaving a sighing Amy behind. Sophie chuckled as the door slammed after the lupess.

"Little hot-head, ain't she? Well, acara, wanna help me make some eyeball stew?"

Amy shrugged. "Why not?"

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**Saura's POV**

I set out with my chest puffed out, adrenaline running through my body. Oh yeah, I'd prove to her and that witch that I could do it! I was strong! They were wrong! As I marched down the path to the swamp-like muck of water, I realized that it rhymed.

I was strong, they were wrong!

I was strong, they were wrong!

I was strong, they were wrong!

I was strong, they were wrong!

I was strong, they were-WERELUPE!

Right when I was at the edge of the water, I heard that familiar growl-snarl-snort that signified a werelupe, and I drew Coolio out, and it made a 'shing!' noise. Wham! I was too slow. The werelupe slammed into me, knocking me down. I fell and rolled into the water, now utterly disgusted.

I got to my feet, or paws, and scowled at the werelupe. I decided that I didn't have time for this, and turned on my heel, walking out to the middle of the pond of muck. Once I was a little farther out, I turned and looked back at the werelupe to see it attempting to cross the water over to me, but every time it put a large paw into the water, it brought it back out quickly, apparently not fond of the liquid. I smirked. What a wimp.

A squelching sound brought me back to Neopia, and I saw a sludgy rise up out of the swamp. As soon as it saw me, it reached into its large mouth, and revealed a ball of…sludge. My eyes widened and I leapt out of the way, once again slamming my lupe face into the mud and water. I heard a yelp, and saw that the sludge ball had nailed the werelupe, which made it even angrier than before, and in doing so, made it more determined to catch its prey.

It dipped a tentative paw into the muck, got used to it, and began to make its way over to me. Which, of course, scared me witless, and I ran around until I found the sinkhole.

Let me tell you, sinkhole equals ew. Nasty, nasty, gross, icky, nasty! You step through it, almost as if the ground gives way beneath you, and you're suddenly sucked down below the surface of the muck, water and mud sloshing around you, getting in your clothes and ears. It's especially bothersome if you have the ears of a lupe. Ew, I'm gonna be sick.

Once all that is over, you fall and land on a spongy patch of grass. Also unpleasant. Sitting up, I could see the wartroot just a few feet away from me, and I knew where I was. Probably the most convenient place to land in the caverns. Go me!

I picked up the wartroot, which had a rubbery, lumpy texture, and a rotten smell, then deposited it into my backpack. Or it just disappeared from my paw until needed later. Finally, I examined my surroundings. A mess of vines, swamp plants, mud, water, rock, and sludge. Yeah, this was_ not_ going to be fun. I really didn't want to fight, so running for it became my plan.

I took a runners stance, dropping to my knees, saying, "Ready…"

"Set…" I raised my hind end into the air.

"Go." I took off.

The mad dash through the water went better than I'd expected. I had run past the sludgies before they realized I was there, and I therefore avoided attack. Life was good.

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**Amy's POV**

I was adding some green, strange looking liquid to the stew when I saw Saura through the window re-appear on a ledge overlooking the pond, and I knew she had the wartroot. I smiled. Good job, buddy.

Soon after, the door burst open, and there stood a proud looking Saura. Well, smug was more like it, and she was smirking at me. I nodded my approval at her, and she handed the wartroot over to Sophie, who looked suspicious.

"Made it, didja?" she asked, "Bet it was located in an easily-reached place, too…" she didn't seem too happy at being proved wrong, but admitted defeat anyway. After telling us the tale of how she'd made the amulet that let you into the Werelupe lair, and how it had been buried with its last wearer, we were on our way to grab it.

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**Me: Okay, peeps. Thought I'd update now since it's been so long. Next time, the duo head over to the crypts, then onto the Werelupe lair.**

**Amy: Woo.**

**Saura: YEAH!! GO US!!**

**Amy: At least she's finally updating.**

**Me: Hey! I've been writing other stuff, too!**

**Amy: Yeah, you're the one who'd developed an unhealthy obsession over a fictional guy from Naruto!**

**Me: Leave Gaara out of this! –ahem- Yes, I'm writing another story based on the Naruto anime/manga series, so if anyone's interested, check it out! REVIEW PLEASE!!**


	14. The Spooky Crypts!

**Me: Ninjas. OMG.**

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**Normal POV**

The plan was simple. Run through the crypt where the amulet was located, grab it, and escape. Easy, right? Of course, but there was also the fact of the other two crypts in the graveyard, confusing Saura and Amy, who had, quite frankly, forgotten which one the amulet was hidden in. Each had a different name as well, so that added to the difficulty of deciding where to go.

Upon arriving at the edge of the plot of land that was the graveyard, the two neopet girls looked around at the broken tombstones, craggy gates, and haggard trees. Saura cowered behind her sorceress friend, and Amy gazed calmly at her surroundings. Taking a few steps into the actual graveyard, she spotted something leaning against one of the large grave markers. It was none other than the Gelert Assassin in all his glory. Amy stared with large acara eyes, and Saura prepared for action. Or was about to when the enemy started to speak.

"What's this?", said the Gelert Assassin, "Vandals in the graveyard? What horrible mischief do they have planned? Have they no respect for the dead?"

As he finished saying this, the dirt of the graves he stood near started to crumble and shift, and stark white arm bones reached out of the ground. Then came the head, torso, and soon the whole skeleton was out of the ground. Three skeith skeletons stood near the assassin, swaying as if in a trance.

"Oh dear, I don't think they like intruders in their graveyard either. Ta-ta!" and the Gelert Assassin disappeared in a whirl of purple smoke.

Snapping out of her "love" trance, Amy pulled out her new wand which she'd bought from Sophie (you know, the one with the eyeball on the end). Smirking, she drew it back, and slung it forward repeatedly, letting out burst after burst of magic while Saura ran around, whacking and slicing with her sword. When the skeletons were reduced to piles of bone, the girls got back together, trying to figure out where to go first.

"Okay, lets think. Big place, one item. We split up.", concluded Amy, much to her friend's dismay.

"Aaaaaammmyyyyyy!" Saura whined, "You know that just playin' the game scared me, I don't wanna go alone!"

"You have to!" protested Amy, frowning, "Come on, Saura, buck up. If you know it's not the right place, you just have to run. You know you can out run most anything when you're scared."

A few minutes later, Saura was going off in one direction, Amy in another. The lupess still wasn't sure that what Amy said was a compliment or not, but she'd had a point. Get in, check it out, run. If it was the correct crypt, wait until Amy figured it out and joined her. Earlier, the two had gone back to the start of the graveyard, and decided on destinations. Saura went to the right, searching for a way to a crypt. Amy went through the first left gate, and defeated a dumb skeleton on the way. She took the path, went up a ramp, and found the entrance to a crypt. Checking out the inside of the first room, she realized it was the right one, seeing the blue button on the floor to her left. The Crypt of the Fallen. Bingo. Now to wait for Saura.

Whom had gone farther, come upon a ghost, ran from it and into a crypt. She saw a downward tunnel ahead of her, and followed it. One she got to the bottom, she could either go left or right. Turning towards the left first, she blinked at the blue, swirling wall of…well, even the authoress doesn't know that the stuff is, so we're going to assume that it's a magical force. Saura instantly knew that a wall of blue magic wasn't right, so she spun around and headed for the exit. The Crypt of Sentries definitely wasn't the one she wanted to be in. When she turned, she saw a mass of bones swirling and whipping around the skull of a skeith at the opposite end of the hall to the right, and gasped. It was one of those things!

It heard her gasp and spotted her, letting out an eerie wail and sending a bone shooting at her. Screaming, she ducked and dodged the bone, driving her legs to go as fast as she could force them when it started levitating toward her.

Finally outside, she ignored the spyder screeches and ran full fledged away from the Crypt of Sentries. While dashing at full speed, she even ran into a skeleton which had emerged from the ground, knocking its arm clean off. If the skeleton had been able to say anything understandable, it would have been saying some less-than-innocent words at the girl as she sped off. Bending down, it grabbed its arm and reattached it to its shoulder. Sending one last un-intelligible garble at her, it dug its way back under the sod.

Saura did not know where to head off to now. She didn't know if Amy had found the right crypt or not, so she just ran to where she had last seen her friend disappear. Back at the beginning of the graveyard, she sprinted to the first left gate that Amy entered, ran down the pathway, up the ramp, and into the next crypt.

To her great relief, there was the acara girl sitting atop a stone coffin, legs crossed, obviously waiting patiently. She turned her head to look at Saura and smiled innocently.

"Saura, dear, you made it." she crooned, seeing, and ignoring, the deadly look Saura was aiming at her.

"Someone thinks they're hilarious…" grumbled the yellow lupess, who proceeded to walk past her uncharacteristically grinning friend and stomp on the blue button. It gave way under her weight and sank into the floor with a loud crunching noise. The door into the crypt slid open, and the girls went through the doorway.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Me: I have only one thing to say. I AM SO SORRY. You guys have every right to flame me for the delay of this chapter. And yes, it's short, so I'm sorry. I'm not going to go into a big explanation of why it took so long, but I just want to apologize. I will try to make sure that this doesn't happen again. I'm so sorry!**

**Amy: -cough- So...forsaken....**

**Saura:-covered in dust- Must...try to....move....**


End file.
